iPhone 5 Represented 21% of Verizon's 3.1 Million iPhone Activations in 3Q 2012

verizonlogoVerizon today became the first major U.S. iPhone carrier to report earnings for the third quarter of 2012, giving some insight into iPhone sales one week before Apple reports its numbers.

In a conference call following the earnings release, Verizon revealed that it activated 3.1 million iPhones during the quarter, representing approximately 46% of its total smartphone activations of 6.8 million. The iPhone activation number was up from 2.7 million in the previous quarter that saw Apple garnering a similar 45% share of Verizon's smartphone activations.

Addressing the iPhone 5, Verizon noted that 21% of its iPhone activations were for devices running on the carrier's LTE network, translating to about 650,000 iPhone 5 activations in the last few days of the quarter.

AT&T and Sprint will also be reporting their financial results next week, ahead of Apple's announcement and conference call following the close of trading on Thursday, October 25.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

KdParker Avatar
151 months ago
I believe that. Not bad for a phone others are calling 'old tech'.

----------

Given the number of smartphones that Verizon offers and how heavily they advertise Android devices, it's pretty amazing that nearly half their smartphone sales were iPhones.

And what does that really say about the SGIII? I constantly hear about how popular this phone is, but the iPhone seems to be killing it.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayducharme Avatar
151 months ago
Given the number of smartphones that Verizon offers and how heavily they advertise Android devices, it's pretty amazing that nearly half their smartphone sales were iPhones.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Technarchy Avatar
150 months ago
Blistering start for the iPhone 5.

650k in 10 days...

I keep hearing that the GS3 is this great big seller and iphone 5 killer yet no one ever wants to talk about its specific activations.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
you people smh Avatar
150 months ago
It's not 21% of smart phones, it's 21% of iphone sales were the iphone 5.

that doesn't seem like a whole hell of a lot.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrisbru Avatar
150 months ago
I had to reread this several times, they only sold 650,000 iPhone 5s.

Verizon sold 650k iPhone 5s. Under constrained supplies. Within the last 9 days of the quarter.

And you use the word ONLY?

----------

Unlike with AT&T, any Verizon customer who gets a 4G LTE phone either subsidized or un-subsidized will lose their unlimited data plan.

If anyone wins here, it will be Verizon by forcing off millions of its iPhone unlimited data customers to a tiered data plan. Combined with the higher efficiency of the 4G LTE spectrum and how 4G LTE chews through more data more quickly, this will be VERY lucrative for Verizon. 2GB will not be sufficient for an average user in 2012, the numbers of which we will know next year. In 2010, the average smartphone user was using 450MB/mo. In 2011, that number jumped to 1.4GB. In 2012, my educational guess is that it will easily exceed 2GB maybe even approaching 3GB.

The share everything plans help for people who use a relatively small amount of data on many devices. The break even point is reached fairly quickly though as you account for the fact that each phone is likely to chew through 2GB each month which means many families will have to get the 8GB family share plan.

Apple wins, Verizon wins, shareholders (me) win, customer (also me) loses

I am holding onto my iPhone 4S with unlimited data for dear life

My current family plan vs. a family share plan with 4gb of data (even this month with my iPhone 5 on LTE which has gone almost a full cycle, we are using just barely 3gb) is the exact same price. My mom has been hesitant to move to a smart phone because she wouldn't use enough data to justify the $30/month for the data plan, but now that it's only $10 more than a dumb phone for access, it will allow her to finally move without adding much to our plan.

Not to mention the jump from 4gb to 6gb of shared data is only $10, and now I can add an iPad for $10/month as well.

----------

Well, this makes sense. You have to buy TWO Verizon iPhones in order to get the data and voice to work at the same time. Also takes 2-3 iPhones to get the LTE Speed that you can get via AT&T.


I'm 90% sure this is just incorrect—Verizon LTE is faster than AT&T LTE.

Also, I'd be willing to bet that 99.9% of the people on Verizon don't buy two phones to get data and voice to work at the same time, because we acknowledge that the few times we would ever use it (I use about 90 minutes of voice a month, and 99% of that time I'm connected to wifi anyway) are worth giving up in order to have more reliable service and more widespread LTE.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Tiger8 Avatar
150 months ago
AT&T has the advantage here because of 4

Guys,

Don't forget hundreds of thousands of people on Verizon who simply are NOT eligible for an upgrade; those who got the iPhone 4 when it was released in Feb 2011
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
apple id account

Apple ID Accounts Logging Out Users and Requiring Password Reset

Saturday April 27, 2024 12:41 am PDT by
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. ...
macos sonoma feature purple green

Apple's Regular Mac Base RAM Boosts Ended When Tim Cook Took Over

Friday April 26, 2024 6:34 am PDT by
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple's all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple's consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: Apple's iPad Event Finally Announced!

Friday April 26, 2024 8:31 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple's upcoming "Let loose" event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's event invite shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Apple CEO Tim...
ipad pro 2022

Apple Event Rumors: iPad Pro With M4 Chip and New Apple Pencil With Haptic Feedback

Sunday April 28, 2024 6:19 am PDT by
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its "Let Loose" event on May 7. First, Gurman now believes there is a "strong possibility" that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple's next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro and iMac six months ago. He said a ...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...