T-Mobile's new approach looks a hit, more Apple devices on the way

T-Mobile sales
Not even the press conference dolls frightened away customers

T-Mobile is still the fourth-place carrier in the U.S., but the company announced today that it added 1.1 million subscribers in its second quarter.

"T-Mobile's Un-carrier approach has clearly resonated with consumers," said T-Mobile CEO John Legere in a press release.

Its new no-contract phone policy and early upgrade T-Mobile Jump feature have been key to customers' giving the carrier a second look, according to the Legere.

"By fixing the things that drive them mad, like contracts and upgrades, and freeing them from the two-year sentences imposed on them by our competitors, they are choosing the new T-Mobile in unprecedented numbers."

More on those 'unprecedented' numbers

Of the 1.1 million new T-Mobile subscribers, 688,000 were the all-important non-pre-paid "branded postpaid net additions," reported the company.

"Let me say it slightly different," said Legere in a Fox Business interview this afternoon. "That was more than the total phone adds of Verizon, AT&T and Sprint - combined."

Total smartphone sales, including those of prepaid customers, amounted to 4.3 million devices in the three-month span.

"There's plenty of customers coming off contracts every month from AT&T and Verizon," he noted.

"In the weekend of July 31, the porting ration between AT&T and [T-Mobile] was 2:1, which means twice as many of their customers are coming to us as opposed to going to them."

T-Mobile iPhone 5 helps too

In addition to its new Un-carrier policies, T-Mobile was able to attract previously wary customers by finally carrying an Apple smartphone by the way of iPhone 5.

T-Mobile iPhone 5 sales accounted for about 29 percent of branded gross customer additions and upgrade smartphone sales excluding MetroPCS.

The benefits of carrying iPhones should continue, as Legere expressed a positive outlook on carrying more Apple products beyond the iPhone, according to AllThingsDigital.

"I think there's a whole array of Apple products that we look forward to carrying," Legere said. "We will expand what we offer from them."

Matt Swider
Latest in T-Mobile
T-Mobile went down – everything we know about this network outage
Ryan Reynolds kneeling over a star
With T-Mobile aiming for control, is Mint Mobile still the best wireless bargain?
Un-carrier On
T-Mobile rolled out a hot magenta smart suitcase, and I want it
Renovated Headquarters
T-Mobile tempts Apple iPhone owners to switch using an app
T-Mobile and Starlink launch event
This is why I want T-Mobile and Starlink's out-of-this-world satellite phone plan
T-Mobile 5G map
T-Mobile has shown just how fast 5G is by launching its new network four days early
Latest in News
girl using laptop hoping for good luck with her fingers crossed
Windows 11 24H2 seems to be a massive fail – so Microsoft apparently working on 25H2 fills me with hope... and fear
ChatGPT Advanced Voice mode on a smartphone.
Talking to ChatGPT just got better, and you don’t need to pay to access the new functionality
Insecure network with several red platforms connected through glowing data lines and a black hat hacker symbol
Multiple H3C Magic routers hit by critical severity remote command injection, with no fix in sight
Apple Watch Ultra 2 timer
The Apple Watch is getting a sleep alarm upgrade it probably should have had 10 years ago
Nikon Z5
The Nikon Z5 II could land soon – here's what to expect from Nikon's rumored entry-level full-frame camera
An abstract image of a lock against a digital background, denoting cybersecurity.
Critical security flaw in Next.js could spell big trouble for JavaScript users