More iPhones sold every second than babies born

There are now more iPhones being sold every second than there are babies being born worldwide.

The current global birth rate is 4.2 births per second, and in the December quarter of 2011 Apple sold approximately 37 million iPhones, which averages out to 4.6 iPhones per second.

The United Nations has predicted that the global birth rate will increase to five births per second in the foreseeable future. Smartphone sales, however, are predicted to increase at an even greater rate, which means that at some point there may be more iPhones in the world than people.

A big part of the increase in iPhone sales is the time consumers are taking to replace their old technology. A few years ago the average mobile phone user would replace their phone every three to four years. Now most people replace their phone every two years or less. This is both because of people’s desire to own the latest technology, and because of the short life-span of technology such as the iPhone.

Have your say
Do you think that we use our phones too much? Read Rachel’s blog and have your say

Do you own an iPhone? And how long does it take before you start thinking about replacing your old technology? Comment below and let us know what you think.

Further reading
Read a new study published by Science Daily which suggests that mobile phones are making people selfish.

Want to know more about the projected birth rate of the world? The United Nations published its projections about the World Population to 2300 as a PDF.