Verizon revealed its third fiscal quarter iPhone activations during its earnings report on Thursday: 3.1 million iPhones, 21 percent of which were the new iPhone 5. The cell service provider activated 6.8 million smartphones during the quarter, giving Apple a little under half of Verizon's quarterly sales.
Verizon didn't mention the iPhone 5 by name, but did state that the 21 percent figure was made up of LTE-compatible models, which limits the choices to just the latest iPhone version. Breaking down the numbers, that 21 percent equates to about 651,000 units.
The iPhone 5 activation numbers likely would've been higher had Verizon's quarter ended later instead of shortly after the new smartphone launch, and had Apple been able to keep up with customer demand.
iPhone numbers were up quarter over quarter at 3.1 million units compared to 2.7 million from last quarter.
Along with iPhone activation figures, Verizon also said that its LTE fast wireless data service is available in 419 markets covering about 250 million users.
AT&T and Sprint will be announcing their quarterly sales figures next week, as will Apple, on October 25. Be sure to check in with The Mac Observer next Thursday for our live Apple earnings report coverage.