Verizon today became the first of the major U.S mobile carriers to report financial results for the third quarter for 2013, giving the first piece of data to help shed light on Apple's early iPhone 5s and 5c sales other than an Apple press release announcing nine million units sold on the launch weekend.
The carrier revealed during its conference call that it activated approximately 3.9 million iPhones during the quarter, representing just over half of Verizon's 7.6 million total smartphone activations during the quarter, and up from 3.1 million iPhone activations in the year-ago quarter. Verizon also noted in the call that it encountered iPhone supply constraints in September, which will also result in some carryover in sales to the fourth quarter.
Verizon also reported that it has now covered "over 99% of its 3G footprint" with LTE, as the network is now in over 500 markets with more small towns being added in the coming months. Overall, the carrier stated that there were 6.8 million 4G LTE device activations on its network in the quarter, up 21.1% when compared to the year-ago quarter.
Finally, Verizon announced that smartphones now account for more than 67% of the Verizon Wireless retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 64% at the end of the second-quarter in 2013.
Monday January 13, 2025 5:33 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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,...
Tuesday January 14, 2025 11:30 am PST by Juli Clover
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...
Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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...
Thursday January 9, 2025 5:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
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 ...
Sunday January 12, 2025 4:11 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
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...
Tuesday January 14, 2025 3:47 pm PST by Juli Clover
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...
Wednesday January 8, 2025 7:05 am PST by Tim Hardwick
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...
Monday January 13, 2025 6:11 am PST by Tim Hardwick
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...
"Increase those executive bonuses for a job well done!"
"Can we tighten the tiers and/or arbitrarily re-jigger our offers to squeeze more money out of the lemmings?"
"And someone call Apple and encourage them to make some more "major apps" like iRadio that encourages data burn through cellular data tiers faster than ever. I want that bonus to go up again next year"
"What! Podunk, <state> is trying to install city-wide free wifi? Quick sick the lawyers on that and let's make some strategic campaign contributions to kill that initiative."
I'm thinking of making the jump from an iPhone 4 on AT&T to a 5s (or next year a 6) on Verizon's LTE network. When you're on LTE, can you do simultaneous phone & data? I use that all the time.
What happens if you lose your LTE signal? Does this happen often?
Any help is appreciated.
We were on AT&T for years, but just didn't have any kind of reception here at the World HQ, and we wanted to bail on our landline service. We switched to Verizon at the time we purchased our iPhone 5s last year (that's 2 iPhone 5, not iPhone 5s :D ) and we now get decent-to-good voice (AT&T was _none_), and the LTE coverage everywhere I go is fantastic (Northeast coast of Florida, VA/DC, Atlanta). I also noted the voice quality is much better (comparing good vs. good signal), but we also swapped phones, so the iP5 may just be much better in that capacity.
Once in LTE, I really haven't seen it drop, and that's while doing things like remote access to servers, sharing code, email, etc., really beating on it with a lot of concurrent services (that are connection sensitive, so any outage would be noted).
No to simultaneous voice and data, but you know what? It hasn't really been an issue for me. If I'm around the homestead, I get voice+ data when I'm on WiFi, when I'm tethering, I'm usually using a different communication mechanism (iMessage, G+/Hangouts, EMail), and when I'm using just the phone, I'm either doing something data related, or making a quick voice call. That was a big hangup for me about switching, I was worried it would interfere, but about a month or two before we made the switch, I took note of how many times I needed it (and AT&T I could've done it), and the answer was none ... none times :D
The price for us was the same out of pocket, but technically better since the shared data plan includes tethering on both phones (though that doesn't really come up TBH). We're doing a shared 4GB data, unlimited text/talk, all the other odds and end services.
Using the internet while you talk on the phone is overrated.
I use it all the time on AT&T. In fact, I use it all the time I'm sure without realizing it. If I had to switch to Verizon, that's when I'd notice how much I use it.
Me on my iPhone on AT&T with my brother: "What time is the game tomorrow? Oh wait, let me check. It's at 5:00 PM. What time should I pick you up?"
Me on my iPhone on Verizon with my brother: "What time is the game tomorrow? I'll check and call you back".