iPhone Accounts for 77% of Smartphone Sales, 62% of All Postpaid Phone Sales at AT&T in 3Q 2012
AT&T today announced financial results for the third quarter of 2012, revealing that the carrier activated 4.7 million iPhones during the quarter, an increase of one million over the previous quarter as sales were buoyed by the iPhone 5 launch near the end of the period.
AT&T did not specifically break down iPhone 5 sales numbers, but did note that its overall postpaid sales numbers were impacted by "inventory constraints" on the device as Apple has struggled to keep up with demand.

Notably, the 4.7 million iPhone activations represented roughly 77% of AT&T's total smartphone sales of 6.1 million during the quarter, showing that Apple continues to dominate AT&T's smartphone customer base. And with smartphones overall rising to account for 81% of AT&T's sales on a postpaid basis, the iPhone represented 62% of AT&T's sales of all phones (smartphones and feature phones) to those customers.
AT&T sold 6.1 million smartphones in the third quarter, 1.3 million more than in the third quarter a year ago. Smartphones represented 81 percent of postpaid device sales. At the end of the quarter, 63.8 percent, or 44.5 million, of AT&T's postpaid subscribers had smartphones, up from 52.6 percent, or 36.1 million, a year earlier and up 1.4 milion from the second quarter. [...]
In the quarter, the company activated 4.7 million iPhones, with 18 percent new to AT&T. The company also had its best-ever sales quarter for Android and Windows smartphones.
Verizon last week also announced healthy iPhone sales for the third quarter, although it too was impacted by supply constraints on the iPhone 5. Sprint will be the third and final major U.S. iPhone carrier to report earnings tomorrow morning, with Apple releasing its official numbers after the close of trading tomorrow.
Popular Stories
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak.
As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code.
In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1.
Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings.
macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...