Verizon Activates 8.8 Million Smartphones in 4Q 2013, Stops Announcing iPhone Numbers

Verizon Wireless announced its earnings today for 4Q 2013, making it the first major U.S. carrier to release its financial statement for the quarter. But while many were hoping to get the first insight into holiday sales of the iPhone, the carrier failed to break out these numbers. This is the first time Verizon has not announced iPhone activations and is following AT&T, which also stopped reporting quarterly iPhone activations last year.

The carrier revealed during its earning conference call that it activated 8.8 million smartphones in the quarter, down approximately 10 percent from the 9.8 million smartphones the carrier activated in 4Q 2012 but up approximately 16 percent from the previous quarter. The carrier activated 625,000 tablets in the quarter and now has 3.6 million tablets on its network.

vzw-q42013b

Verizon also confirmed it activated 9 million LTE devices in 4Q 2013 while completing its LTE deployment on its cellular network and leading the industry in 4G LTE smartphone connections. As of the end of the quarter, the carrier's 4G LTE network covers 305 million people in more than 500 markets in the U.S. Approximately 69% of the carrier's total data traffic now is transferred over LTE.

Apple will be reporting its own earnings next week on January 27, 2014 after the close of trading, at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. MacRumors will have full coverage of Apple's earnings release and associated conference call taking place at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific.

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Top Rated Comments

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mikebrown66

56 months ago

Activation numbers

Long time reader, first time poster...

I personally wonder if the lack of detailed activation numbers could be related to the sheer number of iPhone activations compared to other hand sets in general for each carrier. Perhaps they don't want customers to know the majority of their activations are iPhones. This might sway more people away from the carriers money making phones with their corporate branding on them?

Rating: 8 Votes

eastercat

56 months ago

While it's great the Galaxy can do simultaneous voice/data, it's not enough to compensate for its shortcomings.
While it's true AT&T has to slow down, they can still do simultaneous voice/data. Verizon phones still can't do this even at 2G. Maybe one day Verizon can convince apple to do something about it. :rolleyes:

Verizon Android LTE phones like the Galaxy can do LTE and voice simultaneously.

<snip>
Even on AT&T, the iPhone doesn't do LTE and voice at the same time. It can't, for the same missing parts reason. What it does, is drop back to 3G when it needs to do them simultaneously. Can make a radical difference in data speed.

Rating: 2 Votes

BC2009

56 months ago

These carriers always reported a large percentage of iPhones being sold in the past and I never saw that as a good thing for the carrier per se (except to maybe validate a decision to compromise with Apple on some points and commit to a large number of iPhones in order to carry the iPhone). Either way, it is never a good thing for a carrier to have too many of the things it sells come form a single vendor. It simply gives that vendor more power at the negotiating table. However, Apple certainly knows how many "Verizon iPhones" they sold last quarter and now they know how many total smartphones Verizon sold. Verizon just doesn't want to boost Apple's public perception for free because it only hurts them -- same with AT&T. The carriers want leverage at the negotiating table.

Rating: 2 Votes

SuperMatt

56 months ago

They have lost iPhone subscribers to AT&T and T-Mobile. :D

This is a great point. Verizon doesn't want the iPhone. They only sell it because they were losing customers to the carriers with the iPhone. Verizon wants devices that they control - meaning Android devices where they can mandate carrier-specific apps on the phone. Ever notice that every Verizon commercial on TV is pushing a 2nd-tier Android phone? They make the most profit on those, so they push them aggressively. Plus, some manufacturers pay Verizon to get featured. For example, Samsung pays huge amounts of marketing money to carriers and carrier stores in order to push the Samsung devices above all others.

Rating: 2 Votes

currentinterest

56 months ago

My guess is that given Samsung S4's disappointing sales, the iPhone probably accounted for a record percentage of activations with the others dropping dramatically. Verizon does not want to be seen as so dependent on a single vendor.

Rating: 1 Votes

Rogifan

56 months ago

I always wondered why Verizon and AT&T broke out iPhone numbers but never any other OEM numbers. Anyone know?

Rating: 1 Votes

Michael Scrip

56 months ago

My guess is that given Samsung S4's disappointing sales, the iPhone probably accounted for a record percentage of activations with the others dropping dramatically. Verizon does not want to be seen as so dependent on a single vendor.

So as long as Verizon doesn't mention it... the problem doesn't exist?

I figured out that Verizon relies heavily on the iPhone... and I'm just a regular guy.

No press release needed :)

Like BC2009 said... Verizon doesn't want to give Apple any extra publicity.

But we still know that the iPhone makes up the bulk of Verizon's smartphone sales. That fact still remains.

.

Rating: 1 Votes

eastercat

56 months ago

True about AT&T and 2G, but they can do voice and data and 3G and higher.
I'm not a big Verizon fan; most of it has to do with the fact they're CDMA, which is exclusionary in that you can't move an unlocked phone to another carrier.

AT&T phones can't do simultaneous voice+data at 2G either.

The upshot is, the iPhone isn't the best choice on Verizon if you want to take advantage of LTE.

Rating: 1 Votes

kdarling

56 months ago

i moved from at&t to verizon. miss the data and voice at the same time. oh well.

Verizon Android LTE phones like the Galaxy can do LTE and voice simultaneously.

Apple left out the necessary extra parts on the iPhone, in order to "simplify the process of manufacturing the iPhone for multiple carriers", according to the NY Times (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/iphone-5-calls-data/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0).

Even on AT&T, the iPhone doesn't do LTE and voice at the same time. It can't, for the same missing parts reason. What it does, is drop back to 3G when it needs to do them simultaneously. Can make a radical difference in data speed.

Rating: 1 Votes