Since the church was being persecuted, the members scattered, so the message and miracles went further.

Simon the sorcerer also believed, but he misunderstood that it wasn’t magic he was seeing and he couldn’t buy the power of the Holy Spirit. He got rebuked hard. V.13 says he became a devoted follower of Philip, but he had a lot of misunderstandings. Peter was not gentle in correcting him:

You and your money can rot.
Your heart isn’t steadfast on God.
Reform your evil ways.
You are poisoned with gall.
You are caught in the grip of sin

He seems to receive the rebuke. Simon might still misunderstand. His response seems self concerned, still.