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Apple (AAPL) announced this morning that the first day's pre-orders for the company's new iPhone 5 are more than double the level of any previous iPhone launch.

Specifically, Apple said it sold more than 2 million iPhones in 24 hours.

That's spectacular.

And the iPhone 5 will obviously be a huge hit.

[Related: Apple's iPhone 5: Does It Live Up to the Hype?]

But the biggest manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, Samsung, countered Apple's news with its own this morning: Samsung plans to release its own next-generation smartphone, the Galaxy S4, in February. This release will follow the iPhone 5 by only 4 months, and Samsung will then presumably have 8 months in which to sell a phone that could represent a clear leapfrog of the iPhone 5.

A few years ago, when Apple rolled out a new version of the iPhone, it was generally considered to be a year ahead of the competition. Now, at least in the eyes of some product reviewers, that edge has been lost.

So are Apple's best days behind it? Is the company losing its edge?

No, says Jay Yarow, Senior Editor at Business Insider.

Apple's iPhone product pitch, Yarow says, has never been that the iPhone has better "specs" than competing phones. In fact, Apple has been behind in the "spec" game for years. Apple's pitch has been and will be that the iPhone is the best phone on the market. In Yarow's view, the iPhone 5 has easily cleared that hurdle.

[Related:On Eve Of iPhone Launch, Apple Hit With Another Manufacturing Scandal]

As for what Samsung might release in February, Yarow thinks the "my-hardware's-better-than-yours" game is pretty much over. Each new phone release represents less of a leap over the prior version than the previous upgrade did. And by next year, Yarow thinks, the hardware upgrade game will have run its course.

Yarow thinks Apple's best days may behind it, but only because those days have been so mind-bogglingly spectacular. Apple has plenty of good days ahead, Yarow said. And they'll start with the amazing launch for the iPhone 5.

SEE ALSO: Huge, Beautiful Photos Of The iPhone 5

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