Jerimiah Yap

According to Mark Moskowitz, a JP Morgan analyst, the iPhone 5 will help Apple return to its perch as the top smartphone in the world. Moskowitz believes the iPhone 5 will surpass the sales of its main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S3. He gives a number of reasons why this will happen.

The iPhone 5 is obviously a huge improvement over the previous model of the iPhone. It boasts a bigger screen and a faster processor. It's much thinner and it weighs lighter. The iPhone 5 also supports 4G LTE. The battery life lasts longer than most of its competitors and it looks sleeker.

"The longer form factor provides more real estate, helping preserve the battery performance. Apple commented that the new device can provide up to 8 hours of talk time on 3G or 8 hours of data on LTE," Moskowitz wrote via CNET.

Apple's latest smartphone will be on sale in nine countries when it's officially released on September 21. By the end of the year, it'll be available in more than 100 different countries.

Consumers don't have to worry about Apple not meeting the demand. Moskowitz is confident that Apple has already produced enough units to meet orders.

After its announcement, Apple will make the iPhone available in just nine days.

"We think that these specs augur well for Apple's competitive edge in the growing LTE market, where many of the smartphones so far have been hurt by the 'pocket hog' or 'battery hog' criticism," Moskowitz added.

It's estimated that Apple will ship 180 million iPhone 5 units this year.

 

Samsung expects to surpass 30 million sales of its Galaxy S3 smartphone this year. The prediction was made by Samsung IT and mobile unit chief Shin Jong-kyun, according to Korea-based media outlet Yonhap News. Samsung only needs to sell 10 more million units to reach its goal of 30 million. In four months since its release the Galaxy S3 has managed to sell 20 million units already.

Samsung also expects its Galaxy Note 2, which is a smartphone and tablet hybrid, to be a huge hit when it's released later this year. The first model of the Galaxy Note has sold 10 million units so far.

This is certainly good news for Samsung. Samsung and Apple are currently waging a global smartphone battle. A United States federal judge decided last month that Samsung infringed on Apple's copyright patents and ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1 billion in damages.

Analysts have estimated that there will be 567 million smartphone shipments worldwide by the end of the year. That figure is expected to double four years from now.

"Apple's iPhone 5 will be a key product for the smartphone market in [the second half of 2012]. Apple shipped more than 140 million phones in 2010 and 2011, so we can expect smartphone shipments to continue flourishing as users upgrade to the new iPhone," NPD DisplaySearch analyst Hiroshi Hayase said, according to CNET.

Previously, NPD DisplaySearch estimated that smartphone shipments would reach somewhere between 220 to 230 million in the United States this year. Now it has adjusted its forecast to 177 million units.

Apple plans to sell its iPhone 5 smartphone in October in Korea.