• In a series of decisive moves to reverse its subscriber loses in the past few quarters, Verizon has abandoned the “profit over volume” strategy, sacrificing near-term ARPA growth to prioritize customer net additions.
• Verizon led the ‘Big 3’ carriers with a 16% YoY growth in no-trade discount amounts and showed the largest decline in trade-required discount amounts, falling 27% YoY.
• By heavily subsidizing smartphones and reducing plan prices, Verizon is betting that the lock-in effect of strong promotions for both single and multi-line accounts will outweigh the initial profit loss and stabilize its churning base.
• This pivot could reignite a subsidy war among the Big 3 in 2026, though relying on new line offers or those with no strings attached carries some risk of attracting customers with lower credit, which comes with its own set of potential problems.

After underperforming in Q3 2025 with recording only 44,000 net adds and a declining consumer subscriber base, Verizon recently made a series of moves to pivot from maximizing profits to homing in on securing new lines. Over the past several weeks, Verizon has shifted to provide more value to the customer by offering more no-trade-required smartphone promotions. In early November, it introduced a new offer to retain current customers, which gave $20 off per line for 1 year (up to 4 lines). Verizon also made price cuts on its rate plans with 2-4 lines by $15-30. This week, it introduced a new offer for 4 free iPhone 17 Pros with new lines for $25/month per line, no trade required. Verizon leadership has admitted that its previous strategy of driving revenue through price hikes produced unsustainable churn. This series of moves highlights a transitional period for Verizon as it recently hired a new CEO and adjusted pricing strategies in hopes to revive performance after consecutive disappointing quarters. Read our full analysis, Deconstructing Verizon’s Aggressive Pricing and Discounting Activities.

The Counterpoint Research US Smartphone Promotions Tracker contains weekly promotions data on smartphones sold at US carriers including discount amount, promotion type, promotion description, and more. It enables trend identification and highlights changes in strategies, key device launches, and the most impactful discounts. The tracker includes historical data from 2023. Contact

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