Apple has now sold more than 1 billion iPhones

It has been less than 10 years since the first iPhone was unveiled and Apple announced yesterday that their iPhone sales have crossed the 1 billion mark.

While speaking to an employee meeting yesterday, CEO Tim Cook broke the milestone saying that Apple shipped its one billionth iPhone last week.

“iPhone has become one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in history. It’s become more than a constant companion. iPhone is truly an essential part of our daily life and enables much of what we do throughout the day. Last week we passed another major milestone when we sold the billionth iPhone. We never set out to make the most, but we’ve always set out to make the best products that make a difference.”

While this feat is commendable, it should be remembered that it came after a course of nine years. Apple’s sales have been dwindling recently, particularly in the Q2 of 2016. And their direct competitor Samsung has been giving them a really tough time. Samsung’s new flagships Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have been largely applauded and have helped restore Samsung in the good books of their customers while also outselling the Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Samsung has also been dominating Apple in terms of annual sales for the past few years. That can, perhaps, be attributed to the fact that they release more smartphone models than their competitor which helps surge their cumulative sales.

Apple, for now, is pinning all their hopes to the iPhone 7 which is rumored to be released this fall. But Apple’s needs to give particular importance to strategizing on how to reach that next one billion.