Often, when hitting certain milestones, Apple likes to make a bit of fanfare about its achievements. But while the 50 billionth iTunes download prompted a countdown that resulted in some great prizes for one lucky individual, Apple recently sold its 500 million iPhone without so much as a press release.
In fact, no official word has been spoken on the matter, but having done a little simple mathematics, Forbes has determined that by this point, there’s no doubt that Apple hasn’t shifted its 500 millionth unit.
The Cupertino company, during its numerous earnings reports, announced a total of 472 million iPhones sold from inception in 2007 to the end of 2013, and with analysts having predicted sales of around 38 million units for the current quarter – which ends in the next few days’ time – it’s all-but certain that Apple has hit the magic half-billion mark.
Having first launched in 2007, the device revolutionized the mobile industry, and even though it has faced some stiff competition from the likes of Samsung in recent years, has continued to be the most popular line of high-end smartphone; quarter by quarter, year after year.
Of course, there’s always a slim chance that analysts have gotten things wrong and that, in actual fact, Apple has still yet to reach this epic milestone. But while we’ve become somewhat accustomed to analysts getting their numbers muddled up in the past, they’d have to be overestimating by more than ten million in this case, and that seems very unlikely to say the least.
Even as the Mac turned 30 years old earlier on this year, Apple made a bit of a song and dance about it, so it seems strange that the iPhone hasn’t been given similar attention on such an achievement.
Still, if reports we’ve been hearing are anything to go by, the iPhone could be in for its biggest upgrade to date later on this year. And when we say ‘biggest,’ we mean this in the literal sense, with speculation that two new devices – one packing a display as large as 5.5 inches – could be in the offing.
Analysts have suggested that the larger handsets would trigger a spike in upgrades, as well as prompting folks to make the leap Google’s Android platform, and if the rumors do wind up to be true, you feel it won’t be long before we’re talking about the 600 millionth handset sold.
(Source: Forbes)
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