Wireless competitors T-Mobile and Sprint say pre-orders of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are smashing sales records.
T-Mobile started selling the newest generation iPhones Friday and reported the biggest day of U.S. smartphone sales in company history. The number of iPhone 7s ordered Friday through Monday quadrupled T-Mobile’s iPhone 6 pre-sale.
Sprint is also boasting a huge boost in sales. Sprint reports pre-orders of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus over the last three days are up 375 percent over this time last year. We’re checking to confirm that they mean the release of the iPhone 6s, which came out in September 2015.
Both providers are offering a free iPhone 7 to customers who trade in their iPhone 6 or 6s.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, who have feuded in the past, took to Twitter Tuesday morning to tout iPhone pre-orders.
In 1st 3 days, we’ve had nearly 4x #iPhone7 pre-orders over last year❗ Who’s losing the most customers to @Sprint? https://t.co/juCQK816wo
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) September 13, 2016
GREAT @Sprint network + AMAZING #iPhone7 + INCREDIBLE offer = preorders ⬆ nearly FOUR TIMES! https://t.co/8lUANN0SUO pic.twitter.com/twdR2cX8rB
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) September 13, 2016
1/ In the first 4 days, iPhone 7 pre-orders are already our biggest in @TMobile’s history! Nearly 4x more than the iPhone 6!
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) September 13, 2016
3/ People are switching to @TMobile A LOT!! They’re coming from Dumb, Dumber AND Yellow! Overall porting ratios in Q3 are above Q1 & Q2!
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) September 13, 2016
T-Mobile and Sprint are jockeying for position as the top alternative to Verizon and AT&T. The two carriers have been known to try and one-up each other. Last month, T-Mobile introduced its latest “Un-carrier” move, rolling out a single wireless plan offering unlimited data. Sprint, the nation’s fourth-largest carrier behind third-place T-Mobile, on the same day announced its own unlimited data plan.
Both T-Mobile and Sprint later introduced add-ons to their unlimited plans for HD video and other perks.