Despite losing its exclusive standing with Apple, AT&T announced selling 7.6 million iPhones, comprising 20 percent of Apple’s 37 million smartphone sales during the fourth quarter of 2011, which ended Dec. 31. Even more impressive: Apple’s handset accounts for 80 percent of all smartphones the carrier sells.
AT&T said it sold a record 9.4 million smartphones during the December quarter, beating its previous record by 50 percent. The iPhone sales by themselves dwarfed the carrier’s previous record of 6.1 million smartphones sold. Even more amazing: most of the iPhones AT&T sold were Apple’s latest iPhone 4S, released two weeks into the quarter.
The carrier credits its massive iPhone sales to AT&T being the only provider offering HSPA+ speeds for iPhone 4S users. Wednesday, Verizon announced selling 4.2 million iPhones during the same quarter.
All of which overshadowed AT&T’s $4.2 million charge as a result of failure to get its merger with T-Mobile approved.
