Even though Android is the most popular Smartphone platform the iPhone 4 is the best-selling phone. A recent study shows that the second best-selling phone on the market is the over two year old iPhone 3GS, which is quite a shock. This news comes out even before we can see how effective Best Buy’s one day only iPhone 3GS sale going for the low price of nothing. As amazing as it is that the iPhone 4 is still the best selling phone on the market after over a year the fact that the iPhone 3GS is outselling all the new top of the line Android phones takes the cake.
The iPhone 3GS has been the cheaper more accessible older sibling to the iPhone 4, which is why it continues to sell so well. The normal, on contract, price of a 3GS is $49 for the base model, and a refurbished model can be had for $9 which is a steal. The cheapest iPhone 4 on both AT&T and Verizon goes for $200.
The iPhone 4 made several improvements from the 3GS model. Most notably would have to be the exterior styling, the 3GS looks identical to the iPhone 3G which is now over three years old. Besides physical appearance there is a large boost in performance as well as the inclusion of apple’s retina display. Even with these changes the iPhone 3GS is not missing too much, and is still a great phone. Most importantly the vast majority of the available apps still run on the iPhone 3GS even if they might take a little longer to loud.
The timing of today’s Best Buy sale might be too little too late. With all rumors pointing to an October launch of the next-generation iPhone this might be the iPhone 3GS’ swan song.