Preorders of this year's new iPhone on Sprint were nearly five times higher than last year's iPhone 6s launch, CEO Marcelo Claure said Tuesday.
"The iPhone 7 for us has been a smashing success," Claure said CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
Claure's comments came after Sprint announced last week that in the first three days of the preorder period, customers were placing orders for the iPhone 7 at a rate more than 375 percent higher compared to the same period during launch of the iPhone 6s last year.
Sprint's stock price has popped more than 88 percent this year, as the company steps up its efforts to get new customers. On Tuesday, the mobile carrier launched a campaign aimed at getting more customers in the New York City area to switch to Sprint.
While preorders for the iPhone 7 were reported to be well above last year at carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T, Wall Street has expressed mixed sentiment for the new smartphone as it hits stores. Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, known as one of Apple's biggest advocates, told clients consumers are becoming less interested in upgrading to the iPhone 7, according to the firm's recent survey of iPhone users.
But UBS said Tuesday that investors should buy Apple shares on the prospect of a shorter iPhone upgrade cycle than expected.
"You can look at it any way you want," Claure said. "More customers love the iPhone 7. A lot of new customers are switching to Sprint."
— CNBC's Tae Kim contributed to this report.