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

[lilo777]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

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AT&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.

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

Activations numbers probably also include iPhones sold by Apple, Best Buy etc. which might be higher than what AT&T itself sells. It's possible that AT&T sold 10.2 million smart phones and activated 100 million smart phones (sold by Google, Amazon, Wal Mart etc.) which would mean that iPhone's share was 8.6%.

[KPOM]

Originally Posted by max pl

how do they have 74% of the activations when marketshare is more like 50-50 compared to android?

AT&T is pretty much an iPhone shop. They were the first to get it, and had an exclusive deal for 4 years. Therefore, they get lots of upgrade activity. Also, until recently they didn't heavily promote Android.

[szw-mapple fan]

Originally Posted by max pl

how do they have 74% of the activations when marketshare is more like 50-50 compared to android?

It includes older iPhones and hand-me-downs. But still... it shows the costomer preference pretty clearly.


Edit: Sorry. I can see someone else already answered this. Oh well.

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Originally Posted by bungiefan89

lolwut?

um... maybe it was sarcasm?

[guitarman777]

Sooooo they've got all these new activations and tons more subscribers... yet they still won't grant FaceTime over cellular for grandfathered unlimited customers?

Yeah. I'm a little bitter.

[Michael Scrip]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Amazing how well the 4 and 4S are doing when we're told day after day people want bigger screen sizes.

You could also say that every phone sold that is above 4" is a loss for Apple.

Some people are platform agnostic... they don't care whether the phone is running iOS or Android.

They just want a bigger screen... along with calling, texting and Facebook.

If Apple can't provide that... they will go elsewhere.

[Rocketman]

Apple is in bed with the carriers. VoIP is not on the horizon.

[Technarchy]

That's basically a blowout on all the major carriers. Apple killed everyone.

Add T-mobile to the list this year.

And yet we are told there are a trillion android activations a day, and the GS3 has sold 100 million units...

I wonder what those USDM numbers are, Samsung...

[lazard]

Originally Posted by max pl

how do they have 74% of the activations when marketshare is more like 50-50 compared to android?

because a lot of the activations were for old hand-me-down iPhones.

[dethmaShine]

I think it's definitely safe to say that the US market is different from other markets but you cannot really deny that majority of the international market for e.g. China, India, some parts of Europe want cheap smartphones or basically cheap phones.

It is going to be hard for Apple to sell a $649 priced iPhone to these parts of the world unless their cost of living index rises to an appreciable amount.

Android is dominating in these parts majorly because it can be deployed in cheap mobile phones. Hence, when people say that Android is cheap — they imply that technically most of the android or a very large percentage of android distribution accounts to the distribution of cheap android phones which cannot be denied.

Again, we are not calling Android users cheap. Some people make more and some don't. And it's not as if that people who make more money always buy the iPhone — but... whatever you get the idea.

[lazard]

Originally Posted by dethmaShine

I think it's definitely safe to say that the US market is different from other markets but you cannot really deny that majority of the international market for e.g. China, India, some parts of Europe want cheap smartphones or basically cheap phones.

It is going to be hard for Apple to sell a $649 priced iPhone to these parts of the world unless their cost of living index rises to an appreciable amount.

Android is dominating in these parts majorly because it can be deployed in cheap mobile phones. Hence, when people say that Android is cheap — they imply that technically most of the android or a very large percentage of android distribution accounts to the distribution of cheap android phones which cannot be denied.

Again, we are not calling Android users cheap. Some people make more and some don't. And it's not as if that people who make more money always buy the iPhone — but... whatever you get the idea.

It's because, unlike the rest of the world, the US consumers flock towards heavily subsidized phones which lock them into costly 2 year contracts.

[kdarling]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

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.

Y'all should know this difference by now. How many times have I mentioned it over the years?

Historically speaking, used phones have accounted for anywhere from 10 to 20% of AT&T's activations.

So the number of new iPhones sold is more like from 6.9 million to 7.7 million (median 7.3 million).

[Karma*Police]

Originally Posted by max pl

how do they have 74% of the activations when marketshare is more like 50-50 compared to android?

Android is on more carriers. Once T-Mobile/Metro PCS comes on board, I think you'll see Apple dominate the US smartphone market, similarly to iPod.

Also, these analyst reports are often notoriously wrong.

[dagger01]

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

[Rogifan]

Originally Posted by dagger01

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.

Disgraceful? A bit of an overreaction don't you think? I don't think MR is intentionally misrepresenting AT&T results. Also why does it bother you so?

[linux2mac]

Originally Posted by iPhoneApple

That's a lot of iPhones. And people still think Apple is doomed.

By "people" you mean the fragmentoid Samsung fans right?

[thelink]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

Buy on weakness, hold for 3 years.

I don't get it...

[currentinterest]

The argument will be that there is little room left for growth. They will be "challenged now to maintain their dominance" will be the mantra. The answer of course will be new products and China where they are showing remarkable growth.

[iMikeT]

Originally Posted by Rocketman

Buy on weakness, hold for 3 years.

I thought I did buy on weakness a few months ago. Apparently, the weakness that I bought on wasn't weak enough.

[twoodcc]

i still don't get it. everyone keeps saying how android is growing faster and is taking over, but at&t and verizon keep saying that the iphone is the most popular phone by far. what gives?

[coolspot18]

Originally Posted by iPhoneApple

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-...--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.

[lazard]

Originally Posted by twoodcc

i still don't get it. everyone keeps saying how android is growing faster and is taking over, but at&t and verizon keep saying that the iphone is the most popular phone by far. what gives?

AT&T and Verizon ≠ world

[AidenShaw]

Originally Posted by coolspot18

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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-...--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.

And

Samsung profits top forecast as mobile biz doubles
...
Increased sales of smartphones were the key source of its stellar profit. Samsung, which overtook Apple Inc. as the top smartphone maker last year, said its operating profit from the division that makes and sells smartphones and tablets more than doubled to 5.44 trillion won in the fourth quarter, from 2.56 trillion won a year earlier.

That "thermo-nuclear war" thing doesn't seem to be panning out...

[fermat-au]

Originally Posted by lazard

AT&T and Verizon ≠ world

Are you saying that there are counties outside US where people use smartphones?

[Oletros]

Originally Posted by twoodcc

i still don't get it. everyone keeps saying how android is growing faster and is taking over, but at&t and verizon keep saying that the iphone is the most popular phone by far. what gives?

Perhaps there is a world outside ATT and Verizon

[Nightarchaon]

I wish they would say 84% IN NORTH AMERICA as its not 84% in the rest of the world, World wide apple has about 25% of the smartphone market and its a falling market share, they like to quote US numbers, not worldwide ones to make them look like they are doing amazingly well, they might as well say 100% market share and omit "sold via apple stores".

http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/02/idc...de-in-q3-2012/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-575...-market-share/

the loss of market share outside the US is an accelerating factor that apple is keen to gloss over by quoting US market share all the time but not directly stating its US market share..