In the release, which we have below, it says, "This included best-ever quarterly sales of Android and Apple smartphones."
We checked with AT&T and it clarified to say this means a record breaking number of iPhones as well as a record breaking number of Android phones.
This is good news for Apple which had been dogged by reports of weak iPhone 5 demand.
However, before people go nuts, there are a few things to consider. Assuming Apple sold the same proportion of smartphones at AT&T in this holiday quarter as it did in 2011's holiday quarter, then iPhone sales are up just ~7%. It's not a perfect comparison, though. Last year, all of the iPhone 4S sales were loaded into the holiday quarter. This year, some of the iPhone 5 sales were in the third quarter.
It's always difficult to get a strong read on iPhone sales based on just U.S. carriers. AT&T is a small part of its overall sales.
Here's the announcement:
DALLAS--()--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.
“We had another incredible quarter of smartphone sales as the mobile Internet continues to drive strong growth in wireless,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer for AT&T Mobility. “These are the industry’s most valuable postpaid subscribers with average revenues twice that of non-smartphone subscribers. During the quarter, we averaged more than 110,000 smartphone sales a day as customers flocked to our leading portfolio of the latest Android, Apple and Windows devices. Combine that with the nation’s largest 4G network and lightning-fast LTE network that now reaches more than 170 million people and you’ll understand why customers continue to choose AT&T in record numbers.”
AT&T is scheduled to release its full fourth-quarter 2012 financial results after market close on Thursday, January 24.