It’s not just the iPhone 5 Apple (AAPL) has been selling like crazy ; a bunch of older iPhones are still selling as well. And the prove of that is Verizon’s (VZ) latest financial results for the third quarter of 2012.
The nation’s second-largest carrier revealed in its earnings call Thursday morning of activating a total of 3.1 million iPhones in the 3rd quarter, only 651,000, or 21%, of which were the new iPhone 5 that saw supply constraints. That means the remaining 2.5 million iPhones sold by Verizon were older models like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
“The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S should continue to be good drivers in the fourth quarter given their recent reduced pricing and some potential continued supply issues related to the iPhone5, so their contribution to the total iPhone activations should not be underestimated,” Julien Blin, an analyst at Infonetics was quoted as saying to CNET.
According to AllthingsD’s John Paczkowski, “the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S will continue to drive sales at the lower end of the market, as the iPhone 5 drives sales at the higher end.”
Paczkowski’s observation echoes that of Fran Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, who said on a conference call with analysts that the company expects sales of the iPhone to accelerate in the fourth quarter.
Of the 6.8 million, Verizon reported selling 3.4 million Android smartphones in the 3rd quarter, underscoring the carrier’s diversification strategy of its portfolio of mobile products.
Verizon recorded earnings of $1.6 billion for the quarter, up 16% from a year ago, on revenues of $29 billion on a consolidated basis, an increase of 3.9% y/y. It activated 400,000 more iPhones in Q3 compared to Q2.
It remains to be seen how many iPhones rivals AT&T (T) and Sprint (S), sold in the period, with both companies set to report their earnings next week.
Apple, for its part will report its fourth fiscal quarter on Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET
AAPL traded lower on Thursday, ending the session at $632.64 (52 wk range: $354.24 – $705.07), down $11.97, or 1.86 percent. Volume: 17M.
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