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More than half of Verizon smartphone sales in Q4 were iPhones

Holiday earnings reports are being posted, and Verizon's indicates that more than half of its smartphone sales were iPhones.

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Joe Aimonetti

Holiday earnings reports are being posted, and Verizon's indicates that more than half of its smartphone sales were iPhones.

This resulted in a revenue surge for its wireless division, but because of heavy subsidies, an overall decline in profits.

Apple

Verizon's Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said in a report by CNNMoney the loss is OK in Verizon's eyes, noting that Verizon's business deal with Apple to get the iPhone will likely be a losing effort until 2015.

Shammo otherwise assured investors that profit margins are on the rise and should continue to grow as current customers upgrade to the new 4G LTE network. The profits could also be helped if Verizon decides to follow AT&T's lead and raise its rates, especially in the data consumption category.

Verizon sold 4.2 million iPhones for the holiday quarter, which grew wireless sales by 13 percent, amounting to $18.3 billion in revenue. But, by adding the iPhone, the margins on those sales saw a sharp decrease from 48 percent in the previous quarter to just 42 percent last quarter.

If you are wondering where Verizon's earnings are compared with Apple's, it's not even close. Apple posted another record quarter for earnings and sales on the back of selling 37 million iPhones, 15 million iPads, and 5 million Macs, resulting in a revue of $46.33 billion and a profit of $13.06 billion.