Apple is the number one smartphone manufacturer

Thanks to the more than 20 million iPhones that Apple has sold in the last fiscal quarter, improving on the also very good figure of 18,6 million in the previous quarter and more than doubling the figure of the same quarter in the previous year (8,4 million), it is confirmed that the Californian company has become, in just four years, the number one smartphone manufacturer worldwide.

This is truly surprising considering that it's been over a year since the iPhone 4 went on sale, yet it continues to sell incredibly well. This data comes from a market study conducted by several renowned consulting firms: IDC, ABI Research, and Strategy Analytics. Perhaps now we understand why the iPhone 4 is experiencing a longer upgrade cycle than any previous iPhone generation – Apple is now threatening LG's position as the world's third-largest mobile phone manufacturer.

It's important to note that we're talking about device sales here, not which operating system is most prevalent. If we consider all the Android versions (from low-end smartphones given away with two-year contracts from many mobile carriers to high-end smartphones), iOS isn't the most widely used operating system. However, we don't think that worries Apple. In the computer world, Apple continues to grow, but it still has a minuscule market share compared to Windows and PCs from various manufacturers. That doesn't stop them from being one of the world's leading computer manufacturers, generating the most revenue from sales and enjoying the best reputation. Thanks to all of this, including iOS device sales, Apple now sits on a veritable mountain of cash—no less than $76.200 billion, which is cash, hard cash, not including investments or any other assets (company value, buildings, campus, land, patents, etc.).