AT&T breaks own smartphone sales record in Q1, iPhone still dominates

By Phil Nickinson  | Apr 24 2012 | 8:58 am  | 18 Comments

AT&T

AT&T this morning announced its first-quarter 2012 earnings. The carrier sold a Q1 record 5.5 million smartphones -- 78 percent of them iPhones. That leaves 1.2 million Android and BlackBerry smartphones to make up the difference. AT&T didn't give a breakdown of non-iPhone sales, but it is worth noting that the heavily marketed Samsung Galaxy Note wasn't available until Feb. 19, so it missed half the quarter.

AT&T added 726,000 subscribers for the three months ending March 31, and saw its lowest churn in seven quarters.

Source: AT&T

Phil Nickinson

Phil Nickinson Editor in Chief

"Phil is a recovering print journalist, editor of Android Central, subtitles and street signs."

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There are 18 comments

randall2580 says:

They got me for a Gnote on release day!

NickA says:

Wish GNote would come to Verizon. Here's what I don't understand: If Android has thousands of activations every minute of the day, then why are they only part of the 1.2 million? The numbers don't add up when it comes to "activations" vs sales. I just activated my DX2 again yesterday, so does Google count that again? It's the third time it's been activated in a year (I'm a phone switcher).

wraith404 says:

They have stated in the past that they only count first time activation. I think these are surge numbers resulting from the release of the iphone4.1.

pixelslave says:

Simple. US != The Earth. Google's activation count covers the whole Earth. Both AT&T and Verizon sold more iPhone than all Android phones combined in the last quarter. Given that Sprint and T-mobile are much smaller in size and Sprint now also sells the iPhone, US sales of Android phones in the last quarter should be falling behind the iPhone. However, international sales of Android smartphones are still going strong.

a_youth_in_asia says:

These are new activations, not reactivations. And you can't just count the big 4 when it comes to these activations, there is also the international and regional carriers that add to this.

jrod986 says:

I wonder how many Lumia 900s they sold (is it even included in Q1?) They really pushed that phone.

Commodus says:

Lumia 900 wouldn't count -- it didn't ship until April.

As for Android, AT&T's habitual problem has been getting truly desirable Android phones in the first place. In 2011, the Atrix kinda fizzled out, and there wasn't much to go on after that. The HTC One X is an awesome phone, but it'll be one Android phone when Apple has no problems outselling AT&T's entire Android roster, by a wide margin, with one iPhone.

lmf1030 says:

It's hard for me to believe those figures. I can't see 78 percent people still buying a outdated Iphone with no LTE radio and a barely a 1ghz processor. And Blackberry you might as well don't even add them into the picture since they on the brink of bankruptency.

I think Android pulled in those numbers for ATT. Weather they want to admit it or not.

eahinrichsen says:

Absolutely. AT&T is so committed to destroying Android that they would break all manner of regulations and blatantly lie in sales reports.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stock up on tinfoil.

Johnly says:

Funny lol!

jonyah says:

Those people buying an outdated iPhone with no LTE still think the iPhone 4 is a 4g phone. I can't believe I still have arguments with people over that one.

Mobius360 says:

I just had this argument with a co-worker, explained to her she will have to wait for the iPhone 5 to get 4G. I tried to sell her on an Android phone but all her friends have iPhones so she decided she will wait for the iPhone 5.

NickA says:

This is an earnings report, you think they are going to lie about the numbers? What would they have to gain by doing that? Give me a break dude. People still buy iPhones because it's the "cool" thing to do or whatever. Maybe they just like them. And while BlackBerry is falling fast, they have no debt and still earn 4.2 billion in revenue. I wouldn't call that the brink of going bankrupt.

bworley50 says:

RIMM has less cash than they do current liabilities. Net income for the February 2011-February 2012 was only 1.14 billion, representing negative cash flow. Maybe not on the brink, but negative cash flow and declining revenue yoy is a huge problem.

robertllacy says:

People still buy the iPhone because it's a good phone. Plain and simple. I prefer Android to iOS, but some people don't. Some people don't care about what OS is on the phone, they just want what works. You must really hate Apple if you think Android pulled those numbers in for AT&T.

moises1204 says:

it hurt to see such an evil company doing so well.

jrod986 says:

Apple does't seem so evil compared to, say, AT&T and the other 3 major US carriers.

As for iPhone 4s having "4g", I don't care if people believe that. I bought an Evo (the first 4g phone!) and an Evo 3D. Their fake 4g is faster than my fake 4g and I die a little inside.

Johnly says:

Google has a halo....they be the innocent angel....Get real. These companies, all of them are cut throat. The sharpest gully does best.