Apple Music is the world’s most popular streaming service, second only to Spotify. Combined with the ad-free and free-to-play game streaming service Apple Arcade, the iPhone maker could be raking in an additional $8 billion in revenue by 2025.
According to JP Morgan analysts led by Samik Chatterjee, Apple’s income from its music streaming and videogame streaming services could jump by 36 percent by 2025. It would translate into $8.2 billion in additional profits for the company.
“Chatterjee, who is rated five stars for his estimate accuracy on Apple by Refinitiv Eikon, expects the gaming-market size to hit $360 billion by 2028 and music streaming to reach $55 billion by 2025.”
Analysts expect the services to have a combined subscriber base of approximately 180 million users by 2025 — 110 million for Apple Music and 70 million for Apple Arcade. The estimated $8.2 billion increase in revenue is expected mainly from the music streaming service. The analysts say Apple Music would account for $7 billion of the revenue jump while the videogame streaming service would bring in just $1.2 billion.
However, it should be noted that the iPhone maker is somewhat secretive about the subscriber count and revenue generated by its services business which comprises the App Store, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Music. The company’s services business made $19.82 billion in revenue in the last quarter.
The JP Morgan analyst’s estimates don’t seem too far-fetched. Apple Music has been updated with support for lossless audio and Dolby Atmos in the past year. Going forward, the Cupertino firm could unveil Apple Classical, a dedicated streaming service for classical music, since it acquired Primephonic last year. While the music streaming service relies on iOS updates for new features, Apple Arcade is updated with a new game almost every week.
[Via Reuters]