Consumers continued to purchase AT&T iPhones this quarter despite the smartphone also being available on Verizon, but Android devices were also a popular option for AT&T customers, according to earnings numbers released by the carrier this morning.
AT&T activated 3.6 million iPhones during the last quarter, 24 percent of which were new to AT&T. The carrier said the number of iPhone customers leaving AT&T, meanwhile, was "down slightly."
That number doesn't represent any gains for AT&T; it also activated 3.6 million iPhones in the first quarter, which was down from the 4.1 million iPhones activated in the fourth quarter of 2010. But predictions of dire losses for AT&T with the introduction of a Verizon iPhone appear to have been a bit premature, for now at least.
Verizon also reported its earnings this morning, but didn't provide many details about iPhone sales, except to reiterate previously published stats about selling 2.2 million iPhones 4s in the first eight weeks.
Apple switched things up this year and did not introduce a new iPhone in June, which it has done every year since 2007. When the Verizon iPhone first debuted, there was speculation that some customers were either tied to an existing contract or wanted to wait for the iPhone 5, so it will be interesting to see if the next-gen iPhone release, which presumably will be available for Verizon and AT&T (but not Sprint?), will have any effect on customers making the switch from AT&T.
AT&T also said that sales of Android and other smartphones doubled since last year to make up more than 40 percent of smartphone sales in the quarter. In the wake of Verizon nabbing the iPhone, AT&T in January promised to get aggressive on Android. Overall, AT&T sold 5.6 million smartphones, which the carrier said was a second-quarter record and a 43 percent jump from last year.
At this point, 49.9 percent of AT&T's 68.4 million post-paid subscribers have smartphones, up from 35.8 percent last year. AT&T added 1.1 million wireless subscribers this quarter for a total of 98.6 million.
Verizon, meanwhile, said it had 1.8 million net additions, including 906,000 post-paid customers for a total of 104 million connections, 88.4 million of which are retail customers.