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

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.3 Coming Soon: Here's What's New

Monday January 13, 2025 5:33 am PST by
iOS 18.3 is currently in beta for developers and public beta testers. So far, the upcoming iPhone software update is very minor in scope. Below, we outline what is new in iOS 18.3 so far. The only potential new feature coming to iPhones with iOS 18.3 so far is robot vacuum support in the Home app, but this functionality is not yet live. Apple is laying the groundwork for the feature,...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
new magsafe charger

Apple Releases Updated MagSafe Charger Firmware

Tuesday January 14, 2025 11:30 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the 25W MagSafe Charger that is compatible with the iPhone 12 and later and the latest AirPods and Apple Watch models. The updated firmware is version 2A143, up from the 2A138 firmware that the accessory shipped with. In the Settings app, you'll see a different version number than the internal firmware number. The 2024 MagSafe charger was...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 8 New Features

Thursday January 9, 2025 5:45 am PST by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro concept based on rumors Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of January 2025: More aluminum: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models ...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

HomePod Mini 2 and New Apple TV Launch Timeframe Narrowed Down

Sunday January 12, 2025 4:11 pm PST by
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently reported that Apple plans to release new HomePod mini and Apple TV models this year, and now he has provided a more precise timeframe. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple is currently aiming to launch the new HomePod mini and Apple TV models "toward the end of the year." That timeframe suggests the devices will be released at some point...
severance new york promo 1

Apple Promotes Severance Season 2 Premiere With Lumon Industries Pop-Up and Visits From Actors

Tuesday January 14, 2025 3:47 pm PST by
Ahead of the season two premiere of hit TV show Severance, Apple is marketing the show with a fun Severance pop-up at the Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Apple has assembled a glass cube with workstations that are identical to the setups that Lumon employees use on the show, complete with employees "working," doing yoga, playing catch, throwing paper airplanes, sipping coffee, and...
airpods pro 2 gradient

AirPods Pro 3 Expected This Year: Here's What We Know

Wednesday January 8, 2025 7:05 am PST by
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch sometime in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for. Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as...
General Apps Messages Redux

Phishing Attacks Use This Simple Trick to Defeat iPhone Message Security

Monday January 13, 2025 6:11 am PST by
A new social engineering tactic is being used by cybercriminals to trick iPhone users into disabling iMessage's built-in phishing protection, in a bid to expose them to malicious links and scams, according to BleepingComputer. The scam exploits a security feature in iMessage that automatically disables links from unknown senders. Apple told the outlet that when users reply to these messages...

Top Rated Comments

KdParker Avatar
160 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
160 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
160 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
160 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
160 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
160 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)