iPhone antenna issues cost 20% of sales, analyst warns

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster warns in a new report that the iPhone 4’s antenna issues cost Apple 20% in sales.

However, as Forbes reports, Apple may be losing sales by continuing to hold an exclusive contract through AT&T and not expanding to other providers, such as Verizon.

“The antenna issue is removing upside potential for iPhone units, but Verizon is actually the most significant factor limiting demand.”

“In order to quantify a worst-case scenario, we estimate that 40% of all iPhone sales are domestic (was 38% in the June quarter). We are modelling for Apple to sell 11 million iPhones in the September quarter, implying about 4.4 million domestic sales. If Apple lost 20% of those sales, or 880,000 units, it would reduce our EPS estimate in the quarter by $0.11, from $3.72 to $3.61,” he said.

Rumours in various tech publications suggest Apple may be expanding the iPhone to Verizon next year.