Verizon wants to end device subsidies. Get the iPhone 18 Pro while you can
CEO Dan Schulman wants to make the company more financially disciplined.
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Schulman might not take long to act on this desire. | Image by Verizon
Verizon has been on the upswing since CEO Dan Schulman took the helm, but he looks dangerously close to repeating the mistakes of former CEO Hans Vestberg.
Speaking at the recent Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026, Schulman said he wanted to focus on four things to turn Verizon's fortunes around.
The first was to stop over-focusing on engineering and start prioritizing customers. He planned to evaluate himself on it through churn rates and postpaid phone net adds. After going up for three straight years, churn is dropping. In Q2, the company posted 184,000 postpaid phone net adds and 77,300 prepaid net adds.
The second goal was to overhaul corporate culture from a bureaucratic hierarchy into a bold company that hunts instead of being hunted.
The third target was improving efficiency, and he got right to business by laying off 13,000 employees in his second month. He has set lofty cost-cutting targets and wants to eventually stop offering discounted handsets.
The last target was delivering value to investors after Vestberg let the market cap fall from first to last among major telecom companies over the last five years. Schulman is pleased with the direction so far.
He also discussed the opportunity to sell fiber connectivity to AI hyperscalers. The company recently struck deals with Google and Corning.
By his own admission, Schulman is impatient, so it won't be long before he acts on his impulse to trim subsidies. It might not happen right away, but if you are on Verizon, it would be wise to grab the iPhone 18 Pro deal while you can.
Verizon learned the hard way last year that hiking prices without a corresponding increase in value pushes customers out the door. While Schulman halted direct price increases, he has already scrapped price guarantees. And while the company briefly engaged in a promotional war last year, it's now retreating into status quo comfort.
Device discounts are one of the main reasons people choose postpaid over far cheaper prepaid options. They were used as leverage by providers when the FCC proposed a shorter unlocking window. Schulman seems too hung up on his desire to save Verizon more money to realize he is going down the same path as Vestberg.
Four goals
Speaking at the recent Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026, Schulman said he wanted to focus on four things to turn Verizon's fortunes around.
And I would say, in general, I'm pretty pleased with the progress that we've made. It's a big company; those often take time to turn around
Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO, September 2026
The first was to stop over-focusing on engineering and start prioritizing customers. He planned to evaluate himself on it through churn rates and postpaid phone net adds. After going up for three straight years, churn is dropping. In Q2, the company posted 184,000 postpaid phone net adds and 77,300 prepaid net adds.
Churn had been going up for three years in a row. Now, churn is coming down year over year. I expect that to continue.
Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO, September 2026
The second goal was to overhaul corporate culture from a bureaucratic hierarchy into a bold company that hunts instead of being hunted.
The second thing is, I really felt like the culture at Verizon needed shaking up. We really needed to start to play to win. I'm a pretty intense guy. I'm very impatient. It's process-oriented as opposed to results-oriented. It's very risk averse, and we were moving very slowly. I was tired of the company being more prey than predator in the market.
Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO, September 2026
The last target was delivering value to investors after Vestberg let the market cap fall from first to last among major telecom companies over the last five years. Schulman is pleased with the direction so far.
So I would say in general, I'm pleased with the direction of travel.There's a hell of a lot more that we need to do to reach my expectations. But we're kind of on the right track right now.
Dan Schulman, Verizon CEO, September 2026
What would you do if your carrier stopped offering device discounts?
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Uh-oh
By his own admission, Schulman is impatient, so it won't be long before he acts on his impulse to trim subsidies. It might not happen right away, but if you are on Verizon, it would be wise to grab the iPhone 18 Pro deal while you can.
Here's how else Schulman is changing Verizon:
Making the same mistake
Verizon learned the hard way last year that hiking prices without a corresponding increase in value pushes customers out the door. While Schulman halted direct price increases, he has already scrapped price guarantees. And while the company briefly engaged in a promotional war last year, it's now retreating into status quo comfort.
The postpaid edge
Device discounts are one of the main reasons people choose postpaid over far cheaper prepaid options. They were used as leverage by providers when the FCC proposed a shorter unlocking window. Schulman seems too hung up on his desire to save Verizon more money to realize he is going down the same path as Vestberg.
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