Technologies

Verizon’s Generous Wireless Promotions Are Going Away

Aggressive offers and trade-in deals reversed subscriber declines last year, but Verizon’s CEO warns that these lures won’t be around for much longer.

Verizon ended the year by gaining more phone and internet subscribers over the holiday season, the carrier reported this week in its fourth-quarter earnings.

The carrier had a positive turnaround after several difficult quarters last year in which price hikes led phone subscribers to drop their plans. Over the fourth quarter, Verizon added 217,000 postpaid net phone subscribers, a metric used by the industry as an indicator of success, though the majority were for business customers, with consumers only accounting for 41,000 net subscribers, according to a press release.

Verizon’s turnaround was driven by generous promotions and trade-in offers. But consumers will see fewer financial incentives to switch going forward. CEO Hans Vestberg warned Tuesday on a call with Wall Street analysts that the company will wean itself off these offers even if this results in short-term losses.

«We believe current promotion incentives are not sustainable for the industry in the long run,» Vestberg said.

Verizon is on track to reach 200 million people with its C-band flavor of midrange 5G coverage by the first quarter of 2023 and is ahead of schedule to reach its target of 250 million by the end of 2023, Vestberg said. When the full breadth of C-band service goes live by the end of the year, subscribers should see speeds increase to 2.4Gbps, up from 900Mbps currently.

Verizon lost 175,000 prepaid net subscribers over the quarter. This comes after the carrier expanded its prepaid offerings by launching its Total by Verizon prepaid line to rival T-Mobile’s Metro and AT&T’s Cricket brands of affordable phone plan providers.

The carrier continued to expand its fixed wireless subscriber base with gains of 379,000 net additions, bringing the year-end total to 1.3 million more net subscribers than it started the year with. Broadband gains were much more modest, with 59,000 Fios wired internet net additions. Verizon said it had the best gains in broadband in over a decade, and Vestberg said to keep expecting fiber expansion in the years ahead.

Verizon posted $35.3 billion in revenue in the quarter, slightly beating expectations of $35.1 billion and up 3.5% from the same period last year, an increase the carrier credited to migrations to pricier unlimited plans, rate hikes earlier in the year and a full quarter of contributions from prepaid phone subsidiary TracFone, which Verizon acquired in late 2021.

The carrier reported net income of $6.7 billion, or $1.56 earnings per share. Its adjusted earnings were $1.19 per share, exactly meeting expectations of analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.

Verizon set expectations of wireless service revenue growth of 2.5% to 4.5% for 2023, with more cashflow freed up after finishing deploying its C-band 5G by the end of 2022.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Nov. 26

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 26.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s a tough one for a change! Think transit — maybe the kinds some people might take to get home for Thanksgiving. Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Greyhound, e.g.
Answer: BUS

4A clue: Passenger’s walkway on a 1- or 6-Across
Answer: AISLE

6A clue: The Wolverine to Chicago’s Union Station, e.g.
Answer: TRAIN

7A clue: Barely beat, with «out»
Answer: EDGED

8A clue: «___ out!» (ump’s cry)
Answer: YER

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Feathered creature, in kid-speak
Answer: BIRDY

2D clue: Electricity bill calculation
Answer: USAGE

3D clue: More like a fox
Answer: SLIER

4D clue: Past-tense verb that sounds like a number
Answer: ATE

5D clue: Redundant word before «result»
Answer: END

Technologies

iPhone Fold Will Be Creaseless and Cost $2,400, Report Says

Apple’s first foldable could be an expensive one.

The first foldable iPhone could be less than a year away, and reportedly, you won’t ever see a crease. You could, however, see a decent dent in your wallet.

According to a report by Chinese publication UDN, engineers have made «breakthroughs» in creating a «crease-free design» for the iPhone Fold, and the product cycle has now moved past the experimental stage to pre-mass production mode. The Fold reportedly could be launched in September 2026.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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But you’ll pay dearly for the iPhone‘s creaseless screen. Another report by Fubon Research says the iPhone Fold could cost as much as $2,399, which would make it the most expensive foldable phone on the market — higher than the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the Samsung Galaxy Flip 7, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Motorola Razr Ultra and Motorola Razr, all which range between $700 and $2,000.

More from CNET: A Word of Warning to Apple About the Fold

The reported $2,400 price tag might pack a wallop, but so could the Fold’s possibly game-changing design quality. The market has steadily grown since the first foldable phone was launched in 2018, but no one has yet been able to make one that doesn’t show a crease after several folds. The OnePlus Open has the least visible crease of all the foldables — there’s even a subreddit extolling the virtues of its near-creaseless-ness. But a crease is still a crease.

‘No crease is a hard feat!’

Jessica Naziri, a content creator focused on tech made for women at TechSesh.co, says, «2026 is the year of foldables.»

«We’ve been begging our phones to behave like laptops, and this gets us a lot closer to that reality,» Naziri told CNET. «If Apple is doing it, you know it will be good. Between the iPhone Air and the upcoming foldable, it’s nice to finally see Apple trying new form factors.

Despite the high price, Naziri says consumers will still pony up.

«Obviously, the engineering feat is expected to come with a premium price tag, and people will find a way to save up and pay up,» she said.

Creaseless comes at a cost

The UDN report said that teams from Apple, NewRixing and Amphenol have been collaborating on key component bearings to avoid the iPhone Fold showing creases. Those teams have used high-strength hinge component technology made of liquid metal to improve folding durability, according to the report.

The inner screen is developed by Samsung Display, and the panel structure, material handling and lamination are designed by Apple, the report said. UDN also said that Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group has created a production line where several dozen iPhone Fold devices will be initially manufactured for testing before mass production begins.

The advanced components and design work led to the hefty consumer cost, however. Fubon Research analyst Arthur Liao said the OLED panel, hinge and lightweight internals will help drive up the price of the iPhone Fold. He also said that RAM prices have risen 75% in the past year, and total material cost could go up between 5% and 7% in 2026 because of increased demand for chips, memory and storage.

Technologies

Fubo Loses NBCUniversal Channels, Putting Your NBA Games in Jeopardy

Sound the carriage dispute Klaxon: Some network programming has disappeared from the streaming service after content negotiations fell through.

If you’ve noticed your favorite show has recently gone missing from Fubo, it’s probably because an entire block of programming just disappeared from the site’s channel lineup.

The live TV streaming service is engaged in a carriage dispute with NBCUniversal, a media company whose subsidiaries include NBC News, Universal Studios, Peacock, Telemundo and Illumination, among other brands.

On Nov. 21, NBCUniversal pulled all of its networks from Fubo. This is an especially big deal for sports watchers on the streaming service, since the Fubo Sports subscription — which began earlier this year — depends on the licensing agreement with NBCUniversal. However, viewers can still access sports content on networks like ESPN, CBS and ABC.

Fubo released a statement on Tuesday, alleging the media giant is engaging in «discriminatory tactics» that are harming the streamer’s subscribers.

«NBCU is discriminating against Fubo and our subscribers,» the statement says. «They allowed YouTube TV and Amazon Prime to integrate Peacock directly into their channel store, but refused to give Fubo the same rights.»

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Fubo says NBCUniversal is trying to force a multiyear deal for certain channel packages under the media giant’s new spin-off media company, Versant, and that it’s trying to upcharge on the Fubo Sports subscription by adding «expensive, non-sports channels» into the agreement, increasing the cost.

According to NBCUniversal’s website, the Versant brands include CNBC, E!, MS Now, SyFy and USA, among other channels.

NBCUniversal did not respond to a request for comment.

Fubo says that it’s willing to move forward without NBCUniversal content if an agreement cannot be reached.

«Fubo is committed to bringing its subscribers a premium, competitively-priced live TV streaming experience with the content they love,» its statement concludes. «That includes multiple content options, including a sports-focused service, that can be accessed directly from the Fubo app.»

Fubo recently became an affiliate of The Walt Disney Company, following its merger with Hulu’s live TV platform in October. It’s unclear whether this merger affected content agreement negotiations with NBCUniversal. Fubo did not respond to a request for comment on this.