AT&T Activates 8.6 Million iPhones in Q4 2012, Device Accounts for Some 84% of Smartphone Sales - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

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

by

attlogo375wideAT&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.

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
Read Full Article • 151 comments
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Read Full Article • 111 comments
Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
Read Full Article • 106 comments

Top Rated Comments

I
iPhoneApple
178 months ago
That's a lot of iPhones. And people still think Apple is doomed.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
U
unlimitedx
178 months ago
Yet analysts think even more should have been sold
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JS82712 Avatar
JS82712
178 months ago
but but.. i thought people wanted 5" phones with octa-core!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
Rogifan
178 months ago
And so many of those were iPhone 4s. It's remarkable.

The people have spoken, we need a larger form factor as well.
Amazing how well the 4 and 4S are doing when we're told day after day people want bigger screen sizes. :p
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
coolspot18
178 months ago
That's a lot of iPhones. And people still think Apple is doomed.
MacRumors content image


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-100-million-galaxy-smartphones-071640018--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.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
dagger01
178 months ago
Pardon me...

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
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments