The gizmo heavyweight iPhone may have its days numbered, and, if recent Samsung Galaxy S3 sale figures are anything to go by, it could possibly cease to be the "Apple" of everybody's eye! Samsung Galaxy S3, which was unveiled in May, has thrown the gauntlet to iPhone and is slowly veering towards eating up a hefty share of Apple's smartphone sales in the UK.

The Financial Times reported that iPhone sales in the UK have dropped considerably post the Samsung Galaxy S3 release in May this year. The report, which cites as yet unseen industry research, says that while the iPhone 4S remains the most popular handset in the UK with 20 percent of the market, this percentage has fallen by five percent since the release of the Galaxy S3. Additionally, the Korea-based electronics manufacturer, Samsung, constitutes approximately 30 percent of the UK mobile market, which include sales of the Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Note.

According to an anonymous mobile operator, the Galaxy S3 has impacted the sales of the iPhone immensely, making up nearly 18 percent of sales in the first week of June itself!

However, experts believe that another reason that may have contributed to a slowdown in iPhone 4S sales is the eagerly-awaited launch of iPhone 5 in fall. Apple enthusiasts may well be holding out for the new version, pushing the older iPhone 4S into oblivion.

Bloomberg technology columnist Rich Jarolovsky feels that Samsung Galaxy S3's features have set the precedence and raised the bar for Apple's upcoming handset. "It's an iPhone wannabe that also set a marker for the next iPhone," Jarolovsky told NPR when discussing the Samsung versus Apple debate. "Samsung is launching it simultaneously on all the U.S. carriers, and it's substantially larger than the iPhone, but it's also thinner than the current iPhone. So it really, the form factor of it is really quite striking."

Moreover in a courtroom battle of patent rights between Samsung and Apple, according to Reuters, U.S. judge Lucy Kohn granted Apple a preliminary injunction against the sale of the device on June 29. Last week, the same judge also granted a similar ruling banning sales of Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 Tab within the U.S. Kohn said that "Apple has made a clear showing that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction, it is likely to lose substantial market share in the smartphone market and to lose substantial downstream sales of future smartphone purchases and tag-along products."

With the battle between the feuding rivals spilling from the market arena onto the courtroom, it will be interesting to observe how the market shapes up post the iPhone 5 launch in fall. Apple may be on a winning spree in the courtroom but for now, Samsung can rejoice and enjoy its share of the "Apple pie"!