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Industry analysts are already predicting that Apple’s iPhone 5, widely expected to be unveiled today, Wednesday, will be the best-selling smartphone of all time. Each new iPhone has outsold the previous version, and the iconic device has been the top-selling mobile phone since its 2007 debut, as indicated by CNNMoney.
However, this is raising the question: How much longer can Apple keep this up? Will there be an iPhone 10?
The last phone to have a prolonged run at the top was the Motorola Razr, which outpaced its competitors for three straight years, until the flip phone was blindsided by the much more powerful iPhone.
The iPhone’s five-year run as the top-selling phone is unprecedented. “Logic would dictate that at some point in time another company would come along and take over the mantle of technology leadership,” said Jagdish Rebello, director of communications research at IHS iSuppli.
Maybe — but don’t hold your breath. Phones built around Google’s Android platform collectively outsell the iPhone, but that market is fragmented across many different manufactures and models.
Nothing on the horizon looks likely to unseat Apple’s iPhone as the top-selling device. Only Samsung’s Galaxy S III has come remotely close, selling 20 million devices worldwide since May, according to Samsung.
That sounds impressive — until it’s compared with iPhone estimates. The industry’s median prediction is that Apple will sell 45 million iPhone 5 units in the first three months after it hits store shelves.
The current chaos in the smartphone market makes it even harder for an Apple rival to snatch away the crown.
While Apple cruises along, almost all would-be challengers are either in the middle of a major transition — that’s Nokia (NOK), Motorola, and Research In Motion (RIMM) — or mired in a damaging legal battle, like Samsung (CNNMoney)
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