Forbes: Apple Quietly Sells its 500 Millionth iPhone

Considering that Apple has sold more than 472 million iPhones between its launch (2007) and December 31, 2013, and adding the 38–42 million iPhone estimate analysts predict for this quarter, Apple has already sold its 500 millionth iPhone, Forbes notes.

What’s interesting, though, is Apple’s silence on the matter, despite the company being known for celebrating notable milestones, such as the 50 billionth app download, or the 30th anniversary of the Mac. Winners of both the 25 billionth and the 50 billionth app download were awarded a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

This wasn’t the case for the iPhone. However, this could be a reminder for those spreading news about market saturation that Apple is alive and well, and it took seven years to sell half a billion iPhones.

The consensus would have placed the milestone sale around March 8 given that entering the quarter Apple had sold 472 million iPhones. So even if it proves a bit high as it did last quarter, we’ve crossed the point where it’s safe to assume that Apple has sold 500 million smartphones in less than 7 years. And the most recent 100 million took somewhere between 2-6 weeks less than the previous 100 million did.

You may recall, however, that the 250 million milestone was reached without much fanfare either, since Strategy Analytics was the one to publish a brief press release informing the media that 250 million iPhones had been sold, which generated roughly $150 billion in revenue for the company over the product’s lifetime.