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.
Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
We are still waiting for the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate to come out, so the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week or two 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...
Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
"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.
