U.S. mobile carrier Verizon Wireless sold a record 9.8 million smartphones in the fourth quarter according to a regulatory filing released by Wednesday, a day after rival AT&T released its own preliminary smartphone numbers. Smartphones represented 85 percent of all activations for the company during the last three months of the year.
Verizon’s 9.8 million smartphone activations are up from 7.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of 27 percent year-over-year. Apple’s iPhone, with demand high for the iPhone 5, took the majority of activations at approximately 56 percent, or 4.3 million units.
AT&T on Tuesday announced that it sold “more than 10 million” smartphones during the quarter, although it did not identify the breakdown between smartphone platforms or devices.
Specific numbers should come Wednesday, January 23 and Thursday, January 24 when Verizon and AT&T each report their quarterly results, respectively. Apple is set to report its first fiscal quarter earnings on Wednesday, January 23 at 5:00 PM EST. The Mac Observer will provide live coverage of Apple’s call and analysis of the company’s results.
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[via The Next Web]