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iPhone Activations Rise 25% at Verizon, Account for 55% of New Smartphones

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Verizon today became the first major U.S. carrier to report financial results for the first quarter of 2013, and with Apple's earnings not being released until next week, Verizon's numbers offer the first look at how Apple's quarter might turn out.

Verizon reported activations of 7.2 million smartphones during the quarter, and TechCrunch notes that on the company's conference call the carrier revealed that 4 million of those were iPhones, which corresponds to 55% of total smartphone activations. Verizon also noted that the iPhone 5 accounted for roughly half of iPhone activations on the carrier, with the iPhone 4S and 4 accounting for the remaining half.

Verizon's overall iPhone numbers are down from 6.2 million iPhones representing nearly two-thirds of Verizon activations last quarter, but the fourth quarter of 2012 was the launch quarter for the iPhone 5, skewing the company's numbers.

A more relevant comparison comes from the first quarter of 2012, which saw Verizon activate 3.2 million iPhones for just over half of the carrier's total smartphone activations in a quarter when Apple shipped 35.1 million iPhones worldwide. Those numbers show that iPhone activations on Verizon rose 25% year-over-year and are giving Wall Street analysts optimism that Apple may meet their overall targets for the quarter, which are generally in the 35-37 million range.

Article Link: iPhone Activations Rise 25% at Verizon, Account for 55% of New Smartphones
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/04/18/iphone-activations-rise-25-at-verizon-account-for-55-of-new-smartphones/
BC2009

BC2009

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2009
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As I have said elsewhere: I thought the analysts told me that Apple ceased ordering components for all their products? They must be making these iPhones with fairy dust.

UPDATE: Here is a little perspective:

2011Q3: Verizon sold 5.6M smartphones -- 2M iPhones / 3.6M Android
2012Q3: Verizon sold 6.8M smartphones -- 3.1M iPhones / 3.7M Android
Q3 YEAR OVER YEAR CHANGE: iPhone +55% / Android +4%

2011Q4: Verizon sold 7.7M smartphones -- 4.3M iPhones / 3.4M Android
2012Q4: Verizon sold 9.8M smartphones -- 6.2M iPhones / 3.6M Android
Q4 YEAR OVER YEAR CHANGE: iPhone + 44% / Android +6%

2012Q1: Verizon sold 6.3M smartphones -- 3.2M iPhone / 3.1M Android
2013Q1: Verizon sold 7.2M snartphones -- 4M iPhones / 2.9M Android / 0.3M Other
Q1 YEAR OVER YEAR CHANGE: iPhone + 25% / Android -3%
 
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likemyorbs

likemyorbs

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2008
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NJ
Let me rub this is my sister's face. She works at Verizon and is a total android fangirl.
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,116
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winston1236 said:
Wow only half of new activations are for the 5. Thats a bad sign.
Click to expand...

Same as it was last quarter. How does this fit into the narrative that Apple is doomed because they don't have an iPhone with a 4.5-5" screen size? Or is that only doom outside the USA, and the USA doesn't care about large screen phones? Or does price trump screen size? Or maybe people are looking at the iPhone 4 and thinking its a pretty damn good phone for free on contract?
 
M

murdoc158

macrumors regular
Jan 8, 2007
217
1
West Bend, WI
winston1236 said:
Wow only half of new activations are for the 5. Thats a bad sign.
Click to expand...

Maybe the Verizon users going with the iPhone 4S don't want to give up their grandfathered unlimited data. Activating the iPhone 5 requires you activate LTE on your contract, which will then force you into a tiered data plan unless you pay the full, unsubstidized price of the iPhone 5.

My wife is paying $75/month for the lowest voice plan, 250 texts, and unlimited data. She would be forced to pay at least $85/month for the same voice plan, 250 texts, and 2GB of LTE data with the iPhone 5. We are trying to lower our monthly payments, not increase them. ;)
 
O

obiegrad

macrumors newbie
Jun 7, 2012
22
0
murdoc158 said:
Maybe the Verizon users going with the iPhone 4S don't want to give up their grandfathered unlimited data. Activating the iPhone 5 requires you activate LTE on your contract, which will then force you into a tiered data plan unless you pay the full, unsubstidized price of the iPhone 5.
Click to expand...

Verizon will force you off unlimited whether you upgrade to a 3G or LTE device. However, it may be that heavy users are holding off upgrading because they don't want to give up unlimited data. The people upgrading now may be less heavy users and therefore OK with a 4 and 4S. The Share Everything plans may be playing a role too, adding a smart phone is only $10 more than a feature phone, so if you are already on a Share Everything plan, getting a free smart phone might be attractive for a low data usage user.
 
BaldiMac

BaldiMac

macrumors G3
Jan 24, 2008
8,757
10,885
winston1236 said:
Wow only half of new activations are for the 5. Thats a bad sign.
Click to expand...

Not at all. Same as last quarter. And Cook said the were seeing the same product mix as last year. ASP also remained the same compared to last year.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,554
6,053
iPhones rose 25% Yr/Yr at Verizon, so if they did the same thing worldwide, that would mean they would rise from last year's 35.1 M to 43.9 M for the same quarter this year, well beyond the 35-37 M the analysts are expecting.
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Nov 14, 2011
24,116
31,140
I know several people who haven't upgraded because they don't want to lose their unlimited data.
 
G

goodcow

macrumors 6502a
Aug 4, 2007
749
1,001
Rogifan said:
I know several people who haven't upgraded because they don't want to lose their unlimited data.
Click to expand...

Then they should just buy a used phone, or buy the phone at full retail.

Even at full retail it's cheaper than the garbage share everything plans, at least on a single line.

1GB is $50 for share everything. The old unlimited plan was $30 a month. If you take the $450 iPhone subsidy and break it down over a 24-month period, that's $18.75 a month.

$30 + $18.75 is $48.75 per month to keep unlimited, paid out over two years, which is cheaper than the new plans.
 
N

newagemac

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2010
2,091
23
camnchar said:
Is it safe to say that iPhone is winning in the US but losing worldwide?
Click to expand...

With the iPhone accounting for 80% of profits for the entire mobile phone industry (both smartphone and dumb phone), it's safe to say the iPhone is winning period.
 
S

sundog925

macrumors 6502a
Dec 19, 2011
948
971
I love how people were so critical of buying the device at retail when it launched to keep unlimited data just 7 months ago, and now that T-Mobile is doing almost the same thing, its "revolutionary". LOL, riiiiiiiight.
 
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