Live on Bloomberg TV

00:00We know the pricing. We know the line up of the 17 generation. Now it passes to the carriers. What's the trading deal going to be? So that the reality is we have the best iPhone and the T-Mobile, you have the best network with the best value. So there's only one place you can get all three best network, best iPhone, best value, and that's at T-Mobile. Customers who come into T-Mobile starting now get the best deal. They get the iPhone 17 on us and they save at least 20% in comparison with other carriers. Okay. Let's be specific here, because if you went to the T-Mobile website this morning, you would have got the iPhone 16 on us. Yeah, on us meeting. No trade in required. Yeah. You will eat the cost of the handset while tying the customer to a long duration contract. Explain the economics and why that's a good deal. So look, when we look at new customers come in, firstly on the iPhone 17, it'll get stratified depending on which model you're coming in on, and there'll be different trade offers that apply. But more broadly, if we think about this right, we believe that when people come in for a new phone, we also get really strong revenue because they get a really, really good experience, especially at T-Mobile, because in many ways we have built our network, we've built our network for a product like this, our superior 5G network, which we built years ahead of our competition. That's what you need to get the best out of your new iPhone and you also get new value. For decades, we've lived with this contradiction, right? Over 70 million Americans chose Verizon or AT & T as the best network in the 4G era, and they probably made the right choice then, but they paid a premium for it. Today, for the first time, right over the last 3 to 5 years, as our network has become the best 5G network in America, you don't need to make that tradeoff any longer. You know, the 5G upgrade cycle with respect to money is kind of been and gone. So when you look at and I'm assuming you've been negotiating with Apple for months, right. But when you looked at the technological updates to the iPhone 17 generation base three pro max, what were your expectations for an upgrade cycle purely on the capabilities of those handsets? So when we look at the amount of innovation that's being unleashed today, we're very optimistic on what this will do to the upgrade cycle as well as to the number of switchers that are out there in the market. We love an environment where lots of people switch because when you're switching and you have the choice of best network and best value, there's only one natural place to go and that's T-Mobile. What was your reaction to the pricing of these handsets? I think the pricing is exactly what we expected. We're really bullish and optimistic about how we drive this forward and bringing in more customers onto the best network. It's academic somewhat now because Apple didn't really, in real terms, raise pricing on the pro. It's about $100 greater than the prior generation, but the storage is double. So take take that what you will. Had prices gone up, would T-Mobile have had to pass them on to the consumer in this environment? If we look at each of these things as they evolve. But I think we were very clear in a lot of our messages, including at our earnings call, that the economics of this business does mean that when you have a substantial price rise, you do need to pass that on. Right? But the economics of this generation of iPhone, they make sense for T-Mobile even with a on us approach. Absolutely. That makes sense. Are the lifetime values we get from our customers now, especially with new handsets, with new capabilities, because of the quality of our network and the loyalty that that engendered apart from the fact that we provide great value. That combination means we are economics and this is something we're very, very happy with. Srini, take me inside the negotiations with Apple. Do you basically early commit to the same inventory to this generation of phone as you did with the 16 far in advance, or do you let it play out and see what happens? Help us understand how you manage that. Our relationship with Apple is really strong, so this is a deep partnership where we spend a lot of time talking about this right from the point that the whole thought process on it has gone. So to characterize it purely as a negotiation I think is wrong. There's a lot of co-development that happens, and part of it is volumes. But this is a much broader picture. One of the reasons why we're so excited by this iPhone is it works best on T-Mobile because a lot of the features we've built into our 5G standalone network support this generation of iPhone, and that's not true. So you're modeling for greater 17 generation sales than you saw with 16 initially. The customer will decide where a lot of this plays out. But we are we like a world where it's simply not about sales with us. It's about the amount of switching that happens in the industry. We like jump balls. We like a world where customers are switching. Switching takes us to the iPhone 17 Air ultra thin 5.6 MM Samsung, another OEM handset that you carry, has the Galaxy S 25 edge 5.8 millimetres as a segment. What have you seen in this calendar year for consumer appetite in the markets you operate in for an ultra thin phone so. We see that hardware innovation does excite consumers and we're really excited about this hardware innovation. Hardware innovation as a whole does keep or does get customers more excited and they do look at the relook at their options of whether I want to stay with the old handset or move to the new one across all four variants. Which do you think will be the volume? But I also think probably Margin driver. Q Can I just tell you which one is my favorite? Go ahead. But know that you're answering on behalf of your company, T-Mobile. Well, I love the cosmic orange color. And when we talk about look, different customers will choose different options. We don't think of this as where do we sit? Where do we singlehandedly make the most margin? Our commitment is to provide the best network with the best value when we do that. Margins and financials are just the result of that because what we are about as a company is just breaking through these age old tradeoffs customers have had to make. So we don't think of this as I make more margin on this handset, therefore, let me sell more of this handset. We think of it as what is the pain point the is trying to solve. We come from a place of if we smash through that pain point, we will all be better off the customer and obviously us. Srini One of the biggest news stories this week has been in the world of satellite connected handsets, the story StarLink and EchoStar. You have an existing relationship with StarLink. I was part of the beta. It worked. But what is T-Mobile's reaction to that being in the context of Apple, Do you expect to focus more on subtle connectivity with the handset? We're delighted with what Starlink's done. We started this partnership with StarLink, with a mission, with a goal to put an end to dead zones. And we're delighted that our partner, our strategic partner, has now made a big significant investment which will drive that mission forward. You've just joined T-Mobile in March of this year, but you are a veteran of this industry. If you don't mind me saying you understand how this works, where it is, this iPhone 17 generation in today's launch rank in the history of iPhone events in driving an upgrade cycle in moving technology forward. We all heard why it's the best iPhone to date as far as the upgrade cycle and where this drives forward. The thing that we get very, very focused on is what does this do to stimulate more switching? Because the reality is a great new handset does start breaking through the inertia that millions of Americans are in. Or a false tradeoff that they've made in the past where they've chosen a network and paid a premium for it. Believing that network and value are somehow can never come together at the same point in time. We see this as a big opportunity, as a big moment to drive that switch and further.

No schedule data available.

BTV Channel FinderWatch BTV in your area

Network Built for iPhone 17: T-Mobile COO

Srini Gopalan, T-Mobile COO, says the company has the best 5G network in America and gains revenue when customers upgrade to new phones. He tells Romaine Bostick and Katie Greifeld on “The Close” that T-Mobile built its network for products like this, highlighting its superior 5G capabilities. (Source: Bloomberg)

More From Bloomberg Markets: The Close
All episodes and clips

Bloomberg Technology
The only daily news program focused exclusively on technology, innovation and the future of business from San Francisco. Hosted by Emily Chang.
More episodes and clips