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Verizon (VZ) states on its Q4 call it activated 6.2M iPhones in Q4, good for 63% of total...

  • Tuesday, January 22, 9:21 AM ET
    Verizon (VZ) states on its Q4 call it activated 6.2M iPhones in Q4, good for 63% of total smartphone activations (up from 46% in Q3, and 56% in the year-ago period). Big Red had previously disclosed it activated 9.8M smartphones in the quarter. CFO Fran Shammo says about half of the iPhone sales involved the iPhone 5 - that remark comes as UBS points to survey data indicating a mix shift towards older and lower-capacity iPhone models. Apple (AAPL) +0.8%. (AT&T smartphone sales)
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This news story has 36 comments:

  •  
    Interesting.
    22 Jan, 09:24 AM Reply Like
  •  
    What do you mean?
    22 Jan, 09:27 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Well, it looks like the mix of the iPhone 5 is still fairly strong. 50% of the highest ASP product is not anything to sneeze at.
    22 Jan, 09:28 AM Reply Like
  •  
    63% is best ever! Add T's estimate of 8.1m and you can back in to total iPhone sells based on historical percentages and that comes out to a very minimum of 47m for qtr.
    22 Jan, 09:32 AM Reply Like
  •  
    That's a very good report for Apple. I wish VZ would have commented on the mix of tablet sales. They reported very strong tablet sales of over 7 million. If they were 60% Apple, that would be 4.2 million of the higher end cellular iPad or IPad Mini devices.
    22 Jan, 09:36 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Non iPhone5 sales (4 or 4s) gets new customers, most likely, in the ecosystem which is bullish for the future and with minimal margin hit regardless of UBS statement.
    22 Jan, 09:37 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I never understood why people didn't just buy the best phone available... You're paying the phone company 60-70$+ per month, an extra $100-200 for the best phone is worth it.
    22 Jan, 09:38 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Agree with you, but when you can get a 4 for free, that is tough for a new apple customer to resist. In 2 years, it is likely a lot will pay up to get the latest and greatest, some will never pay if "free" is an option.
    22 Jan, 09:43 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Still. A $199 device is less than 4% of what your paying Verizon for two years on the same contract.
    22 Jan, 10:11 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I agree. Why don't people continue to spend just a little more of the money they don't have in order to have the "best" phone.
    22 Jan, 10:12 AM Reply Like
  •  
    many only want FREE phones. monthly service fees is a different case.
    22 Jan, 10:56 AM Reply Like
  •  
    With all due respect, that's a very narrow outlook Ashraf, and completely baseless.

    While some might genuinely have that issue, I would bet that most people who buy smartphones with their expensive data plans can easily afford it, but they simply don't make calculated decisions.

    Of course, I might be wrong too. But suggesting that people buying a $99 smartphone do it because they can't afford a $199 smartphone is going a little too far.
    22 Jan, 11:05 AM Reply Like
  •  
    because 200 bux is 25% of an all inclusive week vacation to Cancun!
    22 Jan, 11:10 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Why not, they do it for many other things a lot less important to daily life.
    22 Jan, 11:14 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I don't know--people love a bargain. Being a fairy thrifty person, when I used to work in a hospital I was amazed to often find well-paid professionals broke at the end of the month after paying hundreds of dollars per month for the uncontrolled phone calls of their kid in college, (this was before unlimited calling on cell phones) and other ridiculous and unnecessary expenses. There is absolutely no accounting for how people manage their finances.
    22 Jan, 11:14 AM Reply Like
  •  
    @Rookie

    That's a good point. However, when you consider the value of the phone in three/four years time, then the iPhone 5 would make a better investment, and serve you longer.
    22 Jan, 11:42 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Consumer electronics are hardly an investment. The technology is outdated in 6 months, and nearly obsolete in 2 years.
    22 Jan, 11:54 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Yes, I am definitely in that camp. Most smart phones are interchangeable anyway. Why should I pay for something I do not need? Basic calls & some web would do.
    22 Jan, 01:01 PM Reply Like
  •  
    UBS slices estimates today - a day before earnings! - on information from a survey which contradicts exactly what one company selling a lot of the phones (VZ) is saying. Classic misread by the pundit, survey and analyst crowd. Let the real numbers do the talking tomorrow.
    22 Jan, 09:42 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I can't wait until tomorrow number make fools out of all the analyst clowns that have been taking down their number. These same clowns will be taking them back up on Thursday and Friday.

    Also, I don't expect we get a mea culpa from Gundlach, Cooperman, Gillis, Cramer or Lee. Although, if any of them had a shred of dignity they would all apologize for their incompetence on air.
    22 Jan, 11:17 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I've said it before : http://bit.ly/Xwaz9J

    The guy was never any good.
    22 Jan, 09:53 AM Reply Like
  •  
    android is winning ... not

    seriously, even with pent-up demand from iPhone 5 launch (which, according to analysts, is a huge disappointment), android is doing very poorly on THE network that prides itself on that stupid hyper-masculine "DROID" robot sci-fi campaign

    samsung's obsession with screen size has backed themselves into a corner with no way out - each iteration must be larger in order to feel like an improvement. S series went from 4.0 to 4.3 to 4.8 and rumor of 5.0. Note series went from 5.3 to 5.5 and rumor of 6.3 ?? What's next? A 6" GS5 and a 7" GN4 ??
    22 Jan, 09:56 AM Reply Like
  •  
    So you ripping samsung for screen size means that Samsung is doing poorly?

    lol. Typical Apple fanboi. AAPL is the one reacting to changes in android devices. Most analysts expecting multiple sizes of the IPhone going forward based on Samsung's success with the note series. AAPL decided to jump into the mini-tablet market after Google, Samsung and Amazon saw success with their 7-8" tablet offerings

    http://bit.ly/WTzWld
    22 Jan, 02:29 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I see the % increase from 56 to 63 but could someone tell me the # of units y over y. Thanks.
    22 Jan, 10:01 AM Reply Like
  •  
    1509alpha, 4.3 to 6.2 for almost 44% increase in iPhones YOY.
    22 Jan, 10:03 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Thanks Humble, that is so good only AAPL can get that kind of news and not go up from it.
    22 Jan, 10:18 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Interesting that some willing to go backwards to an antiquated 3G device (i-phone 4S) to stay with the AAPL name, just to save a couple hundred bucks out of pocket over a couple years.


    Positive for brand loyalty, but what about margins going forward?
    22 Jan, 10:22 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I recently upgraded from my iPhone 4 to the 5, and sold the old phone for $200 on Craigslist (exactly what I paid for it over two years ago). How many companies sell a device (albeit with subsidies from wireless carriers) that you can sell two years later and get a free upgrade?
    22 Jan, 10:43 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Except that you did not buy it for $200 two years ago. $200 was just the down payment on an installment plan that I am guessing cost you something like $2500 over 2 years.
    22 Jan, 11:18 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Rookie, unless you're operating your own cell phone network of towers and satellites, we're ALL on an "installment plan" for the next couple of years.
    22 Jan, 12:14 PM Reply Like
  •  
    thats up from last years blow-out quarter
    iphone 4s sales are going to be very good this quarter....
    this is good news.....

    samsung only sold about 18mm s3's this quarter....
    the others are selling a few million at most of high end smartphone.
    If samsung sold 30mm gs3's this quarter or so, i'd be worried...
    samsung is the only co. other than Apple that can ship out that number for this quarter.

    google nexus 4....they are only making/selling a few hundred thousand per month at a loss...I just got the 2 i ordered from NOV. 29th yesterday!
    22 Jan, 10:46 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Sammy only sold 15 mm 3G's, not 18 mm -- to further your point.
    22 Jan, 11:23 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Nokia sold 4 million lumina phones last quarter, how many were 920's?

    LG optimus G phones...record sales of 250,000 per month???

    If phone5 sales are that bad...where are those proposed sales going too???

    The analysis says they are not going anywhere...at least this quarter...and thats what counts in the next few days.
    22 Jan, 11:39 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Let's buy "20GB iPhone 5s"..............


    http://onforb.es/XwiAus
    22 Jan, 12:06 PM Reply Like
  •  
    If oly someone really had a handle on iPhone/ipad/Mac etc. sales that Apple will report tomorrow!

    Unfortunately one of those analysts will be right, but which one??
    22 Jan, 12:39 PM Reply Like
  •  
    There are several take-a way’s from this report, the one that I'm most interested in is that VZ still has a problem being overexposed to Apple, those numbers are fantastic for Apple (and VZ), but as Apple goes (also Samsung)...so goes VZ. This is the reason so many carriers (U.S. and abroad) are trying to spur market share gains by the "also-rans" to curb some of the exposure to Apple and Samsung.

    Nonetheless, Apples earnings release should be very interesting indeed ;-)
    22 Jan, 12:46 PM Reply Like
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