• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 24, 2012

The iPhone continues to be a crucial device for AT&T even though other carriers now also sell it. Apple sold 3.7 million of the Apple handsets in the second quarter, more than a fifth (22%) of which came from new customers. That total was up slightly from 3.6 million a year ago. AT&T said it activated a record 5.5 million smartphones in the quarter.

Verizon last week said it sold 2.7 million iPhones in the period, along with 2.9 million Android smartphones. AT&T added a total of 1.3 million wireless customers, including 320,000 net new contract subscribers. That’s down from 331,000 a year ago. Its total wireless revenue increased 4.8% to $16.4 million.

AT&T overall reported a profit of $3.9 billion, or 66 cents a share, compared to year-earlier figures of $3.6 billion, or 60 cents a share. Second-quarter revenue of $31.6 billion was up 0.3% from a year ago. Wall Street analysts had forecast earnings of 63 cents a share on revenue of $31.7 billion.