Verizon Moves 4 Million iPhones in First Quarter

Verizon customers this quarter picked up 4 million iPhones, half of which were Apple's newest smartphone, the iPhone 5.

That's down from the 6.2 million iPhones Verizon moved in the fourth quarter, but that's to be expected, as the iPhone 5 made its debut in late September and Apple has not released a new device since then.

Overall, Verizon sold 7.2 million smartphones during the quarter, 67 percent of which were 4G LTE devices. New Verizon customers made up 28 percent of new smartphone activations, up from the 22-24 percent range Verizon was seeing in the first half of 2012. About 38 percent of upgrade customers, meanwhile, were buying a smartphone for the first time.

Fran Shammo, Verizon's CFO, did not break out how many of those devices were Android-based, but he said that half of the iPhones sold were 4G LTE. At this point, the iPhone 5 is the only 4G LTE iPhone on sale; Verizon customers can also get the less expensive 3G iPhone 4S and 4.

Shammo also said that more and more customers are buying into Verizon's Share Everything plans, which allow for multiple gadgets to share a data bucket on a single account. About 30 percent of post-paid customers are now on a shared data plan.

About 28 percent of retail post-paid connections, meanwhile, were for 4G LTE devices. At this point, 40 percent of smartphones and 63 percent of Internet devices on Verizon are 4G LTE, while 54 percent of the carrier's data traffic is carried over LTE.

Verizon's 4G LTE network is now available in 491 markets. That includes the Thursday launch of five new markets: El Centro, Calif.; Fort Dodge, Iowa; Middlesboro/Harlan and Paducah Ky.; and East Liverpool, Ohio.

Today's results come shortly after Verizon bumped its upgrade eligibility from 20 months to a full two years. Over at Change.org, one group is asking Verizon via an online petition to drop contracts altogether, like T-Mobile did recently. Verizon chief Lowell McAdam said recently that the idea was interesting, but the carrier has not yet made any announcements. It has, however, embraced installment payments for certain devices, PhoneNews.com reported.

For more, see PCMag's review of the Verizon iPhone 5.