Verizon Wireless today announced results for the June quarter. The company activated 2.7 million iPhones, representing 45 percent of the carrier’s total smartphone sales that hit 5.9 million units during the quarter. This is down from the 4 .3 million iPhones and a 55 percent share in the holiday quarter and a 50 percent share in the first quarter, when the company activated 3.2 million iPhones. For comparison, Verizon activated 2.4 million iPhones in the year-ago quarter. Blame the decline on iPhone seasonality and those pesky iPhone 5 rumors…
Verizon yesterday brought 4G LTE to 33 new markets and said its fourth-generation LTE network is now in more markets than all other U.S. wireless providers combined. Late-June, Verizon also unveiled new shared data plans for smartphones, tablets and other devices (AT&T followed suit yesterday).
The sequential and annual drop in the iPhone share of total smartphones sold by Verizon and the half a million drop in iPhone activations compared to the first quarter is the result of iPhone seasonality.
The iPhone 4S is now over nine months old and less attractive as a sixth-generation revision looms. Customers have also grown accustomed to Apple’s annual refresh cycle and are likely withholding their purchases in anticipation of the next iPhone.
Apple will report earnings for the second calendar 2012 quarter next Tuesday, July 24. The company is unlikely to repeat stellar iPhone performance in Q1 2012 and Q4 2011, when it sold 35.1 million and 37.1 million iPhone units, respectively.
Analysts are expecting Cupertino to report second-quarter iPhone sales just shy of 30 million units.
Are you planning on getting a next-gen iPhone?