Verizon today became the first of the major U.S mobile carriers to report financial results for the third quarter for 2013, giving the first piece of data to help shed light on Apple's early iPhone 5s and 5c sales other than an Apple press release announcing nine million units sold on the launch weekend.
The carrier revealed during its conference call that it activated approximately 3.9 million iPhones during the quarter, representing just over half of Verizon's 7.6 million total smartphone activations during the quarter, and up from 3.1 million iPhone activations in the year-ago quarter. Verizon also noted in the call that it encountered iPhone supply constraints in September, which will also result in some carryover in sales to the fourth quarter.
Verizon also reported that it has now covered "over 99% of its 3G footprint" with LTE, as the network is now in over 500 markets with more small towns being added in the coming months. Overall, the carrier stated that there were 6.8 million 4G LTE device activations on its network in the quarter, up 21.1% when compared to the year-ago quarter.
Finally, Verizon announced that smartphones now account for more than 67% of the Verizon Wireless retail postpaid customer phone base, up from 64% at the end of the second-quarter in 2013.
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026.
"I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April.
Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far.
iOS 26.3
iPhone to Android Transfer Tool
iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
The iPhone 18 Pro Max will feature a bigger battery for continued best-in-class battery life, according to a known Weibo leaker.
Citing supply chain information, the Weibo user known as "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a battery capacity of 5,100 to 5,200 mAh. Combined with the efficiency improvements of the A20 Pro chip, made with TSMC's 2nm process, the...
"Increase those executive bonuses for a job well done!"
"Can we tighten the tiers and/or arbitrarily re-jigger our offers to squeeze more money out of the lemmings?"
"And someone call Apple and encourage them to make some more "major apps" like iRadio that encourages data burn through cellular data tiers faster than ever. I want that bonus to go up again next year"
"What! Podunk, <state> is trying to install city-wide free wifi? Quick sick the lawyers on that and let's make some strategic campaign contributions to kill that initiative."
I'm thinking of making the jump from an iPhone 4 on AT&T to a 5s (or next year a 6) on Verizon's LTE network. When you're on LTE, can you do simultaneous phone & data? I use that all the time.
What happens if you lose your LTE signal? Does this happen often?
Any help is appreciated.
We were on AT&T for years, but just didn't have any kind of reception here at the World HQ, and we wanted to bail on our landline service. We switched to Verizon at the time we purchased our iPhone 5s last year (that's 2 iPhone 5, not iPhone 5s :D ) and we now get decent-to-good voice (AT&T was _none_), and the LTE coverage everywhere I go is fantastic (Northeast coast of Florida, VA/DC, Atlanta). I also noted the voice quality is much better (comparing good vs. good signal), but we also swapped phones, so the iP5 may just be much better in that capacity.
Once in LTE, I really haven't seen it drop, and that's while doing things like remote access to servers, sharing code, email, etc., really beating on it with a lot of concurrent services (that are connection sensitive, so any outage would be noted).
No to simultaneous voice and data, but you know what? It hasn't really been an issue for me. If I'm around the homestead, I get voice+ data when I'm on WiFi, when I'm tethering, I'm usually using a different communication mechanism (iMessage, G+/Hangouts, EMail), and when I'm using just the phone, I'm either doing something data related, or making a quick voice call. That was a big hangup for me about switching, I was worried it would interfere, but about a month or two before we made the switch, I took note of how many times I needed it (and AT&T I could've done it), and the answer was none ... none times :D
The price for us was the same out of pocket, but technically better since the shared data plan includes tethering on both phones (though that doesn't really come up TBH). We're doing a shared 4GB data, unlimited text/talk, all the other odds and end services.
Using the internet while you talk on the phone is overrated.
I use it all the time on AT&T. In fact, I use it all the time I'm sure without realizing it. If I had to switch to Verizon, that's when I'd notice how much I use it.
Me on my iPhone on AT&T with my brother: "What time is the game tomorrow? Oh wait, let me check. It's at 5:00 PM. What time should I pick you up?"
Me on my iPhone on Verizon with my brother: "What time is the game tomorrow? I'll check and call you back".
Verizon today became the first of the major U.S mobile carriers to report financial results for the third quarter for 2013, giving the first piece of data to help shed light on Apple's early iPhone 5s and 5c sales other than an Apple press release announcing nine million units sold on the launch weekend.
