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Q3 iPhone activations flat at Verizon despite iPhone 5s, 5c launch

Published Oct 17th, 2013 9:25AM EDT
Verizon iPhone Activations Q3 2013

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Verizon on Thursday reported impressive third-quarter results that topped Wall Street’s expectations. The communications giant earned more than $2.2 billion in profit on revenue that inched up to $30.3 billion, and it is now home to 101.5 million total retail connections. Verizon also said that it sold 7.6 million smartphones during the third quarter, and it said 51% of activations were iPhones. We can’t directly compare activations and sales, of course, but estimates suggest Q3 iPhone activations fell between 3.9 million and 4 million units — which is flat compared to the 3.9 million iPhones Verizon said it activated in the second quarter this year. This is a bit perplexing considering Apple’s new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launched at the tail end of the quarter. When taking into account how dramatically new iPhone sales smashed earlier records through their debut weekend, however, Verizon’s activation figure could indicate that iPhone 5 and 4S sales had slowed substantially leading up to the new models’ debut.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.