Apple Believes that iPhone Demand Won't Stall

Apple CEO Tim Cook has stressed that, despite widespread belief and evidence that it's already occurred, demand for the iPhone won't stall.

The company sold 47.8 million iPhones during 2012's fourth quarter, with worries that Apple will eventually see demand stall in regards to the number of consumers to whom it can sell the device. Either way, analysts expected the smartphone to sell over 50 million units because of the release of the iPhone. Soon after its earnings report, the firm lost its place as the world's most valuable company.

However, since the iPhone 5's launch, Samsung and Android-powered handsets have replaced Apple as the leading smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. and internationally.

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Cook said that the smartphone market will reach the 1.4 billion mark within the next four years, an increase from the current 700 million units. However, "there's a lot more people in the world than 1.4 billion, and people love to upgrade their phones fairly regularly," he stated.

Apple sold more than 500 million iOS devices since the iPhone's inception back in 2007; however, 40 percent from that figure was from 2012. Cook remains optimistic, though. He said, "So there's incredible momentum there. Frankly speaking, I see a wide open field. It may surprise you, but iPhone is only available to about 50 percent of the subscribers in the world."

Cook recently confirmed that Apple is looking to make its products more affordable, inevitably hinting at the existence of a low-cost iPhone for emerging markets. He also said that Apple is "unrivaled" in innovation and stressed that the firm has no limits.

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