AT&T Activates 8.6 Million iPhones in Q4 2012, Device Accounts for Some 84% of Smartphone Sales

attlogo375wideAT&T has released its holiday quarter earnings data, reporting that it sold a record 10.2 million smartphones -- 8.6 million of those (84%) being iPhones. AT&T reported earlier this month that the quarter was its best ever for iPhone sales. 16% of the iPhones were on accounts new to the company.

During the same holiday quarter, Verizon activated 6.2 million iPhones, some two-thirds of its total smartphone sale. AT&T's previous best quarter was 2011's fourth quarter, when it activated a total of 9.4 million smartphones and 7.6 million iPhones -- an 80% share for the Apple device.

On Twitter, Apple watcher Sammy the Walrus calculated that 74% of smartphones sold by AT&T and Verizon were iPhones, giving the device an "iPod-like share".

Update: AT&T has reached out to us to note that the 8.6 million iPhone number is activations, while the 10.2 million smartphone sales number is sales. This means the iPhone probably doesn't make up exactly 84% of smartphone sales, but it should be in the right ballpark. The activations number includes hand-me-down iPhones and the like.

Popular Stories

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

Wednesday September 24, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line. Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum...
iOS 26

Apple Continues to Prepare iOS 26.0.1 With Multiple Bug Fixes Expected

Sunday September 28, 2025 1:30 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The account initially said iOS 26.0.1 would have a build number of 23A350, but they now expect the update to have a build number of 23A355. This suggests that the software update will include more bug fixes or changes than initially...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year

Sunday September 28, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next MacBook Pro models will enter mass production soon, according to the latest information shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said he continues to believe the new MacBook Pro models will be released at some point between late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, meaning they should be available to order by March at the latest. Apple often...
AirPods Pro 3 Newsroom

Apple's 'Back to School' Offer Ends Soon, Now Applies to AirPods Pro 3

Wednesday September 24, 2025 7:20 am PDT by
Apple's annual "Back to School" promotion for students ends soon, so act fast if you want to score free AirPods with the purchase of an eligible new Mac or iPad. Until Tuesday, September 30, college students and qualifying educational staff in the U.S. can receive free AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. This is a $179 value. ...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Skipped the iPhone 17 Pro? Here's What is Rumored for iPhone 18 Pro

Tuesday September 23, 2025 8:55 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still a year away, there are already a few rumors about the devices that offer an early look ahead. Below, we have recapped some of the early iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. This story was published previously, and it has been updated to reflect the latest rumors. Many early rumors prove to be true, but nothing is confirmed yet, and Apple's...
iphone 17 ceramic shield

Regular iPhone 17's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Friday September 26, 2025 9:01 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the standard iPhone 17 model's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 27W to 28W with these Apple chargers:29W USB-C Power Adapter 30W USB-C Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max...
Apple More Personal Siri Ad

Apple Responds to U.S. Class Action Lawsuit Over Delayed Siri Features

Friday September 26, 2025 6:57 am PDT by
In March, Apple delayed the launch of its personalized Siri features, and soon after the company was hit with multiple class action lawsuits over the situation. The plaintiffs said they never would have purchased an iPhone 16, or would have paid less, had they known Apple's marketing about the Siri features was false. In the U.S., all of the complaints were consolidated into one class...
maxresdefault

Review: A Week With the iPhone 17 Pro

Friday September 26, 2025 12:51 pm PDT by
Apple's iPhone 17 models have been out for a week now, so we thought we'd do a longer-term review of the flagship iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max now that we've been able to spend more time with them. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera has a Silver iPhone 17 Pro and a Cosmic Orange iPhone 17 Pro Max, and despite a lot of concern over...

Top Rated Comments

iPhoneApple Avatar
166 months ago
That's a lot of iPhones. And people still think Apple is doomed.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
unlimitedx Avatar
166 months ago
Yet analysts think even more should have been sold
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JS82712 Avatar
166 months ago
but but.. i thought people wanted 5" phones with octa-core!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
166 months ago
And so many of those were iPhone 4s. It's remarkable.

The people have spoken, we need a larger form factor as well.
Amazing how well the 4 and 4S are doing when we're told day after day people want bigger screen sizes. :p
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coolspot18 Avatar
166 months ago
That's a lot of iPhones. And people still think Apple is doomed.



And in other news...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday that global sales of its Galaxy S smartphones surpassed 100 million units since the first model in the series was released less than three years ago.
Samsung said it has sold more than 25 million Galaxy S smartphones, 40 million Galaxy S II smartphones and 41 million Galaxy S III smartphones.

http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-sells-100-million-galaxy-smartphones-071640018--finance.html

No doubt Apple is the dominate smart phone maker, but Apple faces an increasingly uphill fight, with higher prices, stale OS and hardware.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dagger01 Avatar
166 months ago
Pardon me...

Dear Mr. Golson:

You clearly state in the "Update" to the article that AT&T gave you additional information to say that your 84% number was incorrect, yet you did not correct your article nor the headline? By aggregating info from the update and the article the iPhones did not account for 84% of sales of smartphones for AT&T in the fourth quarter of 2012, nor is their enough data to account for percentage of activations.

You are mixing numbers from two places that don't belong together to come up with an improperly labeled (at least) statistic. There were 10.2 million sales of smartphones by AT&T, you did not reference information about how many of those sales were iPhones. Sure, there were 8.6 million iPhones activated in Q4 2012, but how many other smartphones were activated in the quarter? You even reference "The activations number includes hand-me-down iPhones and the like," so how can you possibly draw the conclusion that 8.6 million activations against 10.2 million in sales equals 84% sales of iPhones? That math doesn't work. You don't have the data points necessary to do an accurate-let alone precise-calculation.

Unless this website is owned by Rupert Murdoch, you're committing a heinous breach of journalistic ethics. Please correct or remove your article as it is a disgraceful piece of communication.

Sincerely,

Jason Lockhart
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)