THE FATBOY SHOW : Why do people keep upgrading their phones?
The lengthening of the smartphone-upgrade cycle is of interest right now, as Apple Inc.
plans to roll out new artificial-intelligence features that will only be available to people who have the iPhone 15 Pro line of devices, or presumably the new models that Apple will introduce in the fall. For Apple investors, that spurred hope of a "supercycle" in which people would upgrade their phones with more urgency than before. Interestingly, that wouldn't necessarily be good news for Verizon. "It's not just that handsets tend to be heavily subsidized, and that a higher upgrade rate would therefore mean a much higher total spend on customer acquisitions," the MoffettNathanson analysts wrote ahead of Verizon's report. "It is also that an accelerated handset cycle would mean higher churn; handset purchase occasions are overwhelmingly the most important trigger for changing carriers."
When asked by CNBC whether it was to the "disappointment" of Verizon that consumers are holding onto phones for longer, Vestberg said that wasn't the case.
"We're disciplined as well," he commented, noting that Verizon is thoughtful about how it conducts promotions for various segments.