Activity in Allowance for Credit Losses for Device Payment Plan Agreement Receivables (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions |
3 Months Ended | |
|---|---|---|
Mar. 31, 2017 |
Mar. 31, 2016 |
|
| Financing Receivable, Allowance for Credit Losses [Line Items] | ||
| Balance at January 1, 2017 | $ 688 | $ 444 |
| Bad debt expense | 151 | 163 |
| Write-offs | (154) | (95) |
| Allowance related to receivables sold | (2) | |
| Other | 3 | |
| Balance at March 31, 2017 | $ 685 | $ 513 |
| X | ||||||||||
- Definition A valuation allowance for financing receivables that are expected to be uncollectible. Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
|
| X | ||||||||||
- Definition Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table. No definition available.
|
| X | ||||||||||
- Definition Amount of direct write-downs of financing receivables charged against the allowance. Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
|
| X | ||||||||||
- Definition The increase (decrease) during the reporting period in the amount owed to the reporting entity by counterparties in securitized loan transactions. Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
|
| X | ||||||||||
- Definition Amount of expense related loan transactions, lease transactions, credit loss from transactions other than loan and lease transactions, and other loss based on assessment of uncollectability from the counterparty to reduce the account to their net realizable value. Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
|
| X | ||||||||||
- Definition Financing Receivable Allowance For Credit Losses Other No definition available.
|