It appears that Apple's run of being the tech world's sweetheart is beginning to wane and is possibly being replaced by Samsung. The thought of this happening a year or two ago was unfathomable as Apple was heading in one direction - up. Everyone loved the Cupertino company for its product designs and innovations, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and unfortunately it looks like Samsung is quickly pushing Apple out of the hearts and minds of the tech world and consumers.

This isn't a new position for Apple to find itself in as it went through a very similar experience with Microsoft back in the day. Apple owned the computer market until computer manufacturers began to release more powerful hardware running Windows than Apple was releasing with its Macintosh line. Windows computers were not only more powerful than Apple's offerings but they offered more advanced features and were less expensive than a Macintosh. Apple quickly saw its fall from grace in the personal computing world as Microsoft's Windows became the market leader for desktop operating systems and Apple wouldn't recover or see any major success until the iPod.

It feels like history is repeating itself for Apple right now and Samsung is doing to Apple what Microsoft did to Apple. Samsung has dethroned Apple as the smartphone king just like Microsoft did to Apple in the PC world. Samsung has begun to offer more attractive, feature-rich, and less expensive smartphones, notice a pattern here?

Samsung has shipped a whopping 213 million smartphones since it planned its attack to overtake Apple in smartphone sales. The Samsung Galaxy S3 seemed to signal the possible beginning of the end for Apple when it came to how the tech world and consumers began to view smartphones. The iPhone was no longer the one and only, Samsung had entered into the hearts and minds of smartphone lovers, and that is a huge fete. Samsung is now seeing the same hype and excitement with its upcoming rumored offerings that Apple solely experienced for over six years with each iPhone release.

Samsung is planning to sell 10 million Galaxy S4 handsets per month following the device's launch. You might think that's wishful thinking but looking at sales of the Galaxy S3, Samsung will almost certainly achieve that goal. I'm not saying Apple and the iPhone are dead in any way, but it would be foolish not to recognize that Apple's golden run could be over.