AT&T remains the preferred carrier for iPhone 4S owners

Even though the iPhone 4 came to Verizon as an alternative carrier in February, the iPhone 4S was the first phone to launch without exclusivity to AT&T. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all carry the iPhone 4S nationwide — well, at least when it’s in stock — and even with all the complaints over the years, customers are still choosing AT&T more than any other carrier. Based on statistics from Localytics, more than half of all iPhone 4S units activated are on AT&T.

AT&T’s iPhone 4S has claimed 56 percent of market share, making it the leading carrier for Apple’s latest smartphone. Coming in far behind is Verizon with 32 percent and last but not least, Sprint with just 12 percent. The latter is fairly surprising, since Sprint is the only carrier with truly unlimited data as AT&T and Verizon have both resorted to data caps. Sprint has put noticeably more marketing muscle behind that fact than actually advertising the iPhone 4S on its network.

Each carrier has its own particular advantage, however. Sprint has the unlimited data, AT&T has the fastest speeds, and Verizon has the coverage and reliability. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon also offer the iPhone 4. Localytics reports that AT&T has 60 percent market share for the iPhone 4, and Verizon claims the other 40 percent.

AT&T is probably going to eat this information up. Remember when Verizon used to boast about how AT&T’s coverage was/is horrid, and used the coverage maps as an advertising campaign? They may have lost that battle, since customers apparently prefer speed to reliability.

[via Localytics]