Sprint sells 1.5 million iPhones in Q3 2012

Sprint is the third major US wireless operator to announce its earnings this week. The struggling carrier, now being acquired by Japan's SoftBank, reported that it sold 1.5 million iPhones in the quarter that ended on September 30. Forty percent of these sales were to new customers.

That number from Sprint is less than the 4.7 million that AT&T activated and the 3.1 million that Verizon sold in the quarter. Using these earnings figures, we can estimate that Apple sold or activated about 9.3 million iPhones in the US. We will get a detailed look at iPhone sales worldwide later today when Apple announces its quarterly earnings after the market closes.