Apple Watch Series 3 likely buoyed Verizon subscriber numbers in Q1

The carrier picked up 359,000 subscribers with wearables and other devices, according to Bloomberg. The company simultaneously lost 24,000 phone customers and 75,000 tablet users.

Wireless revenues nevertheless dropped 2.4 percent, as wearable plans bring in very little income. It costs customers about $10 per month to set up a wearable account, whereas cellphone plans are easily $40 or more.

Verizon didn't specifically break out which wearables are on its network, but there are relatively few cellular-ready models on the market and the Apple Watch is commonly believed to be the most successful.

LTE support lets Series 3 owners do more without their iPhone in tow, such as make calls, send messages, or listen to music. They must still pay for an iPhone plan though, since the Watch is linked to an iPhone's number.

Apple has so far avoided sharing exact sales numbers for any Watch model. During quarterly results calls the company shares only general wearables revenues, describing Watch figures in vague terms that are often relative to past performance.