Apple Airpods generate more revenue than the entire Spotify

Apple AirPods revenue exceeds that of Spotify.

According to a new report from analyst Kevin Rooke, Apple’s revenue from AirPods (a single item) exceeds that of not only Spotify in its entirety, but also Twitter, Snapchat and Shopify- combined.

Rooke presented the following graph in his report, showing AirPods earnings in comparison to that of tech giants:

Using various sources, Rooke has pegged AirPods revenue at around $12 billion- 4.5% of Apple’s total revenue. This represents a growth rate of 127% over revenue from 2018, which was reportedly $5.25 billion, says Rooke.

And when looking at revenue from 2017, which was reportedly $2.25 billion, it represents a 133% increase, Rooke adds.

When following the data, Rooke thinks it isn’t overly presumptuous to hypothesise that AirPod revenue in 2020 will exceed that of Uber.

This is based on his belief that AirPod sales still has room to grow, due to the fact that the installed user base of iPhones is around 900 million while only 100 AirPods have been sold.

AirPod start-up

AirPods are so lucrative that Rooke framed its success as if it were a start-up, saying:

“Imagine a start-up with $12 billion of revenue, 125%+ YoY revenue growth (two years in a row), and Apple-esque gross margins (30-50%). Without knowing anything else about the business, what would you value it at? $50 billion? $100 billion? More?”

However, author Neil Cybart is challenging Rooke’s numbers by questioning the validity of all his sources. Cybart places AirPods actual revenue figure closer to $7.5 billion.

Either way, the sales of Apple AirPods still surpass the revenue of Spotify- an entire company.