Samsung, over the weekend, posted a photo to Flickr that said the company had sold 100 million phones in its Galaxy S line "from the supply side," which is its main competitor to the iPhone. The Galaxy S III is considered by many to be the first major competition for the iPhone.
For now, all we have to work with is "weaker-than-expected demand." We'll find out more about iPhone sales on Jan. 23 when Apple delivers its earnings.
But it's clear that Apple is facing increasing competition, leading it to possibly entering additional markets.
Earlier reports suggest that Apple is working on a less-expensive iPhone. One possible model is that the device will have a polycarbonate plastic shell, compared to the aluminum body of the iPhone 5. That could help it crack into a market that's been long-held by Android and other cheaper smartphones.
Apple's iPhones are very expensive without the carrier subsidies. While the iPhone 4 is now free with a two-year contract and the iPhone 4S is $99, without a contract the devices are still hundreds of dollars. The iPhone 4 without a contract, a phone two generations old, for example, costs $450 on Apple's store. An iPhone 5 starts at $649 without a contract.
If Apple no longer holds complete dominance over the upper-tier smartphone market, it has to crack into other areas of the market that it doesn't already have a large presence, like emerging markets and cheaper markets where subsidies aren't as common.
This is a spot that Google's Android excels in. Google's flagship Android phone, the Nexus 4, for example costs $300 for its cheapest model . This helps Google snap up market share in places where subsidies aren't as widely used
Jessica E. Lessin contributed reporting to this post.
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