Baird & Co

Sprint finally began selling two iPhone models earlier this month, and while anxious subscribers can now finally get their hands on Apple’s sleek cell phone, not everyone will come out of this deal a winner. Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst William Power told clients recently that HTC’s market share in the United States will likely suffer from the deal in the near future. And considering Sprint will be selling iPhones for at least the next four years, the Taiwan-based smartphone maker is likely none too happy. The success of Sprint’s flagship EVO 4G ushered in a new era of supersized smartphones and its successor, the EVO 3D, continued to attract subscribers with class-leading specs and fast 4G speeds. Sprint’s shelves have been lined with HTC smartphones over the past few years in fact, and quite a few have found success according to various sales estimates. Power also notes that Sprint’s shift from WiMAX to LTE may hurt HTC’s sales, though HTC is currently a 4G LTE device leader in the U.S. and is expected to be among Sprint’s premier LTE device partners moving forward. More →