Apple iPhone No Longer Verizon's Bestselling Smartphone? [Update]

141852 Verizon logo 300
Fortune reports that Apple's iPhone has dropped from the top selling smartphone position in Verizon retail stores for the first time since the carrier started selling the device. The news comes by way of a research note from William Blair's Anil Doradla.

Doradla attributes the iPhone's fall from grace less to the usual slowdown in advance of a new model than to Verizon's aggressive marketing of competing 4G devices, particularly Motorola's Droid RAZR MAXX, which the carrier is selling for $299 with a 2-year contract.

The results are based on "channel checks" from the April-May-June quarter of 2012. The iPhone was reportedly dethroned by the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX, but remains in the number two spot ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Verizon first started carrying the iPhone in February 2011. Verizon benefited from pent up demand at launch and the subsequent launch of the iPhone 4S in October of that same year. The iPhone 4S is now 8 months since it's release with rumors that the next generation iPhone will launch this fall.

Update: A separate analyst claims that the iPhone 4S remains the top selling smarpthone at Verizon.

But that's not the case, according to Walkley, who said while the latest Razr is "gaining ground," it "hasn't caught iPhone." His own research has found the iPhone 4S as the top selling smartphone at Verizon, as well as AT&T and Sprint, for the entirety of 2012 thus far.

Popular Stories

cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...

Top Rated Comments

Roessnakhan Avatar
165 months ago
With the Droid RAZR MAXX both having LTE and amazing battery life, that's no surprise.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Val-kyrie Avatar
165 months ago
Not Surprising

Our local Verizon store didn't even mention the iPhone when I went into the store to sign up for a plan; in fact, I had to ask them about the iPhone because they were only pushing Droids.

[Edit: There wasn't even an iPhone on display in the store.]
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SprodeBoy Avatar
165 months ago
I see this as good news. Sure I prefer Apple over everything else in the terms of smartphones but competition is always good and will keep Apple on its feet trying to make the next great thing.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MACdaddy859 Avatar
165 months ago
Perhaps if Apple updated their extremely outdated phone every once in a while...

Go ahead and give me a thumbs down, it's true. Apple is seriously dragging their feet with the iPhone. The 4S was an abomination. I mean come on, im using an iPhone 4 that i purchased in June 2010 the day it came out. I have it jailbroken and running siri, there's no real difference between my 2 year old phone and apple's most up to date phone. It's pathetic, and no i don't consider a bump in processor speed to be a major update. In addition to that, the screen IS too damn small whether you want to admit it or not. If the new iphone isn't significantly improved and changed, im going android. And this is coming from an apple fanboy.

I agree with you man. Thumbs up
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scotty321 Avatar
165 months ago
1. Um, Verizon salespeople are TRAINED to NOT LET ANY CUSTOMERS WALK OUT THE DOOR WITH an iPhone. Have any of you actually tried to walk into a Verizon store and purchase an iPhone? It is IMPOSSIBLE. I've tried it on 8 occasions, and Fortune Magazine documents this as well. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do so. Go ahead... I DARE YOU to walk into a Verizon store and try to purchase an iPhone.
2. Furthermore, Verizon salespeople make $75 commission on every NON-iPhone that they sell, but they only make a $5 commission on every iPhone they sell.
3. Verizon salespeople are BERATED by their managers and given WARNINGS if they sell an iPhone.

So it makes perfect sense that the iPhone isn't their best-selling device. This has been Verizon's plan all along.

WHY?

Because once people love the iPhone, they are loyal to the phone and not the carrier. The iPhone relegates Verizon to the dumb pipe that they are, and they don't like that one bit.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
carbonrain Avatar
165 months ago
"The news comes by way of a research note from William Blair's Anil Doradla."

Anil Doradla... ...is an anagram for All Android... something's fishy...
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)