Apple investors, don't worry. The stock will surge on the new iPhone upgrade plan, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Friday.
"They're basically compressing the time it takes to upgrade. Right now, the average consumer upgrades their iPhones every 22 months, and these carriers are basically locking in consumers to upgrade on an annual basis," Munster told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "That incentive is going to get people to upgrade their phones more often, which is going to have a profound impact on Apple's numbers."
Apple's stock has been under scrutiny recently, having fallen about 7 percent in the last three months amid growth concerns in China.
Still, Munster maintains the upgrade plan could send the stock well past its all-time intraday high of $134.54, thus justifying Piper's $172 price target.
"Just to rewind, when you bought your iPhone a year ago, you bought it on a subsidized basis, which was every two years, so today we estimate that about 95 percent of users are going to buy with the option to upgrade annually."
The company's upgrade program lets users trade in their used iPhones for a new model after one year, with plans starting at about $32 a month.