GLOBAL - A recent Reuters article hinting on Apple overtaking Nokia on net profit basis considering only the returns from the handset sales, is one of the most widely debated topics in the inner circles of the web. A study by Strategy Analytics revealed that the third quarter returns for Apple was at US$1.67 billion while that of Nokia was US$1.1 billion. As per the estimates of Strategy Analytics, iPhone sales contributed to around US $1.6 billion of the $1.67 billion returns, reported for Apple.

While the study may suggest Apple's edge over Nokia, some of the assumptions made in the study are highly debatable. The most obvious being the assumption of Apple's other products (iMac, iPod, Macbook etc) contributing to just US $700,000 in the third quarter. J. Wilcox of Betanews reports that while Apple may have  made more profit per handset sold, it is largely unlikely that they overtook Nokia's profit from handset sales in the same quarter. The rationale is plausible considering the high returns involved in smartphone segment, where Apple's iPhone is positioned compared to a gamut of entry-level to budget devices forming the bulk of the sales from the Finnish manufacturer.

Whether Apple pipped Nokia in third quarter profits or not is still not clear but the Cupertino-based company seems to have taken a leaf out of Nokia's recent smartphone strategy wherein the Finnish manufacturer released a "mini" version of its flagship device Nokia N97, just months after the main device N97 bombed in market. However, while iPhone sales continue to be impressive, the rumors of the mini version of iPhone have resurfaced with Verizon being considered as the official carrier of this version of the iPhone.

Image Courtesy of Brighthand

While the rumours suggesting the end of exclusivity of iPhone to AT&T in the US have been floating around for quite sometime now, the recent rumour suggesting the use of the radio chip from Qualcomm supporting both GSM and CDMA  technologies is hinting at the fourth generation iPhone being both CDMA and GSM-compatible. Further, Apple and Verizon are known to be in closed door negotiations to end the exclusivity of iPhone to the AT&T services in the US, suggesting Verizon to be the carrier of choice for the next generation of iPhone.

As per anonymous employees of a Taiwan-based component manufacturer, the fourth generation of iPhone will measure 2.8" compared to the larger 3.5" of the third-generation of iPhones. Other than the screen size, not much is known about the specifications of the next generation of iPhone.