Digital Products

Apple commands 73.7 percent of the 18-to-29 smartphone cohort and continues gaining share, while Samsung’s combined portfolio only overtakes Apple among consumers aged 45 and older. Drawing on 248,279 smartphone respondents, this report maps the demographic fault lines shaping the US smartphone market, quantifies the upgrade pipeline across consumer segments, and identifies where future competitive battles will be won or lost.

The three nationwide US MNOs spent the Q1 2026 earnings cycle rejecting the idea of a Starlink MVNO. Four days later, they announced a satellite Direct-to-Device joint venture that may ultimately accelerate the exact competitive structure they are trying to avoid. This report examines how SpaceX quietly assembled the spectrum, satellite capacity, network identity, regulatory approvals, and consumer-brand infrastructure required to move from satellite provider to full-scale wireless operator. It analyzes the structural pressures facing AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, the strategic role of cable and wholesale relationships, and why the long-term endpoint may not be an MVNO arrangement at all, but a Starlink-operated mobile network competing directly inside the US wireless market.

Five major US carriers spent 2025 launching customer-centric programs built around price guarantees, loyalty systems, AI-powered support, and pricing transparency. But underneath the marketing, churn continued rising across the major wireless carriers while cable operators captured an increasing share of wireless growth. This report analyzes how AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Charter, and Comcast structured their customer-retention strategies, where price locks actually protect customers, and why the next phase of telecom competition will be defined by predictability rather than promotional pricing.

Standard carrier valuation treats wireless and broadband as parallel businesses that happen to share a balance sheet, leaving the most valuable thing converged carriers create off the table. The convergence multiplier is not a bundle discount but a structural shift in market share driven by which carrier owns the anchor product, with fiber ownership predicting wireless outcomes better than any other variable. Investors valuing AT&T and Verizon on sum-of-the-parts arithmetic are pricing the wrong asset.

T-Mobile’s network performance now ranks among the best in the U.S., validated by third-party benchmarks, yet large and midsize businesses continue to favor AT&T and Verizon due to gaps in perception, relationships, and service awareness. Based on survey data from 4,500+ business decision-makers, the analysis quantifies these barriers and highlights T-Mobile’s efforts to address them while underscoring the growing competitive impact of offerings like SuperMobile and AI voice translation.

Friends and family recommendations are the top research source for every brand every month from May through December 2025, running at 9.5–13.5 percent across all brand tiers. Every digital channel trails it. The word-of-mouth engine costs manufacturers nothing to reach, runs entirely within the existing user base, and compounds with every person who joins the ecosystem.

Device OEMs and carriers spent 2025 marketing AI to consumers who were buying phones because their screens cracked and their batteries died. Hardware failure was the single largest purchase driver across every brand tier and every month from May through December 2025, ranging from 5.6 to 13.2 percent. AI feature priority, by comparison, peaked at 5.1 percent in a single month for a single brand.

The US home internet market is fragmenting into four geographic-strategic formations: Fiber Castles, Cable Forts, FWA Camps, and Satellite Warbands. Based on 682,988 survey responses from January 2025 to March 2026, the central finding is that convergence built on friction rather than satisfaction is a structurally weaker formation that erodes where a superior alternative arrives. The carriers that win are the ones that build formations their customers actually want to stay in, not just formations that are expensive to leave.

Apple’s installed base share rose to 55.9 percent by Q4 2025, up 5.9 points in a single year, while Samsung fell 4.9 points to 27.8 percent. Based on 104,408 US respondents tracked across five consecutive quarters from Q4 2024 through Q4 2025, this report examines installed base composition, price positioning, device tenure, brand consideration, loyalty metrics, and customer satisfaction across the US smartphone market.

T-Mobile leads wireless bill clarity cNPS at +17.7, a 10-point advantage over Verizon (+7.1) and 12-point advantage over AT&T (+5.5). Billing issues drive churn intent at a 2.5x multiplier—customers reporting billing errors or confusing bills show 32.5% churn intent versus 13.2% for those without billing issues. At an estimated customer lifetime value of $1,000+, billing-related churn represents $2-3 billion in annual revenue risk across the Big Three carriers.