AT&T Reports 10M Smartphone Sales in Q4

The holiday season was a very good time of year for AT&T. The company has announced record-breaking sales of iPhones and Android smartphones during the December quarter.

According to the company press release, "AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced today that it sold more than 10 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012, topping its previous record quarter of 9.4 million, set in the fourth quarter of 2011. This included best-ever quarterly sales of Android and Apple smartphones."

Chuck Jones from Forbes added, "Now that AT&T has said it sold over 10 million smartphones in the quarter I estimate that it sold approximately 8.2 million iPhones which would be an increase of 8% year over year. While not at the growth levels previously seen it is better than slightly down."

Reuters observed, "While smartphones help operators keep customers and attract new ones, they also raise costs. Wireless service providers including AT&T pay hefty subsidies to handset makers so that they can offer device discounts to customers who commit to two-year contracts. Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said AT&T could miss her expectations for a wireless profit margin of 32.7 percent because of higher-than-expected smartphone sales."

ZDNet's Zack Whittaker noted, "The company reported third quarter earnings of $3.6 billion, or 63 cents a share, on revenue of $31.5 billion. Wall Street was hoping for earnings of 60 cents a share.... AT&T will report its full fourth quarter and 2012 fiscal year financials after the markets close on January 24."