The battle of the smartphone biggies is reaching mammoth proportions, with both the challenger and the challenged leaving no stone unturned to cement their supremacy. Two months since its launch, the Galaxy S3 has taken the consumer market by storm and already hit the 10 million sales mark with ease. However, unperturbed, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday in a conference call with analysts, teased about the iPhone 5's impending launch in fall, noting that "there's an incredible anticipation out there for a future product," even as a recent survey revealed an "unprecedented demand" for the fabled device.

Apple's earnings announcement on Tuesday failed to meet Wall Street guidance even though the tech giant did sell 26 million iPhones during the quarter ended June 30 (down from 35 million in the last quarter). Sales rose to $35 billion from $28.6 billion on a year-to-year basis while net income rose to $8.8 billion from $7.3 billion. Apple announced earnings per share of $9.32. Though it was higher than Apple's own guidance of revenue of $34 billion and earnings per share of $8.68, it was a rare miss as analysts on average were expecting the tech giant to announce sales of $37.2 billion and profit of $10.35 a share, according to data by FactSet.com.

In a subsequent conference call with analysts, Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to take the bait and give away any key information about the launch date or features of the iPhone 5 but Cook did acknowledge that "there's an incredible anticipation out there for a future product" and he's "glad people want the next thing."

"I'm super happy about that," Cook said. "I'm not going to put any energy into getting people to stop speculating." In other words, Apple can sit pretty and watch in glee as its previous smartphone sales figures tumble like nine pins.

Cook's teaser followed a report by 451 Research, a recent ChangeWave survey, which found "an uptick" in planned consumer smartphone purchases, as well as "an unprecedented level of advanced demand" for Apple's next iPhone offering with 14 percent of the respondents saying they were "very likely" to purchase the iPhone 5.

The survey was conducted in the U.S., from June 18 to June 25, and saw participation from 4,042 consumers. The participants were asked how likely they are to purchase the next iPhone. The responses were quite telling and largely in Apple's favour. Of the total correspondents, 14 percent asserted that they were "very likely" to buy the iPhone 5, 17 percent were "somewhat likely", 59 percent were "unlikely", and 9 percent of the participants "didn't know".

Interestingly, Samsung's Galaxy S3 only got a 2 percent "very likely" nod from users who intend on purchasing a smartphone in the next 90 days. Surprising, considering that Samsung's Galaxy S3 just breezed past the 10 million mark. On Sunday July 22, JK Shin, chief of Samsung Mobile, told reporters that "It appears that it (Galaxy S3) has exceeded 10 million units,"

However, going by past records, the figures may not be conclusive of what eventually transpires. A similar survey, conducted in October 2011, had revealed that 10 percent of the correspondents were "very likely" to buy the next iPhone, 11.5 percent were "somewhat likely", 71.5 percent were "unlikely", and 7 percent said they didn't know. In the 2011 holiday quarter, Apple ended up recording 37 million iPhone 4S sales!

The iPhone 5 is slated for a fall launch and packs a slew of features. Apple's popularity is unrivalled in the highly competitive world of smartphones and the overwhelming demand for the device reinstates the gospel truth.

"Advance demand for the 'iPhone 5' is strikingly higher than we've seen for any previous iPhone model," said Dr. Paul Carton, 451/ChangeWave's VP of Research. "Overall smartphone sales should spike to an all-time high this fall, and of course Apple is going to be the number one beneficiary. But besides Apple, and to a lesser degree Samsung, no other manufacturer is likely to benefit from this coming wave of demand."

With consumers willing to dig deep into their pockets and dish out their hard-earned lettuce for the right smartphone, this fall, Apple's challenge will be to convert the "somewhat likely" and the "unlikely" buyer to the definitive "very likely".