In the aftermath of the separate debut for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S, it would be prudent for Apple to re-channel its attention to other revenue-generating projects in light of growing fears that the global smartphone market is approaching its saturation point.

While the tech giant is consistently posting sales growth, the pace since last year merits some concerns, Fortune said in a report this week. The most that Apple would likely ship out for the third quarter of 2013 is 27.9 million iPhones, the same report said citing the consensus projections of 45 Wall Street analysts.

That would translate to a growth rate of mere 4.3 per cent year-to-year compared to the 28 per cent that the company had registered in the 12-month period ending in September 2012. Note too that the steep decline has been happening since 2011, which around that time Apple had achieved a mind-boggling 113 per cent sales climb as consumers around the world scampered to get a hold on the iPhone.

Now on its way to 2013 and 2014 builds, there are signs that buyers' interest on the iPhone, or other high-end smartphones for that matter, is peaking, analysts said. Such fear was underscored when Samsung missed its Q2 2013 projections based on the guidance it published last month. This despite the fact that its new flagship, the Galaxy S4, clocked more than 20 million sales around the world after only three months of availability.

The impact of the smartphone downtrend could be mitigated by focusing on other products, which for Apple is the introduction of the iPhone Lite, which analysts said is geared for the emerging markets. It appears too that Apple will continue luring price-sensitive buyers by releasing a cheaper version of the iPad Mini 2, which according to DigiTimes will be issued this quarter.

Aside from reconfiguring what it does best, selling mobile devices powered by the iOS platform, the iPhone maker seems seriously looking at the possibility of developing and manufacturing processing chips, judging from recent rumours that Apple is acquiring fabrication plants in Taiwan and forging chip development partnerships with Samsung and TSMC.

However, the tech giant should be better off focusing on developing proprietary chip logic process systems, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. By setting its sights on logic process technology, the company could save billions in dollars while attracting unlimited promises of profits by licensing its chip processes, the analyst added.

Mr Munster noted too that the silicon logic processes industry is far from being crowded at the moment, giving Apple the opportune time to make its entry as it explores other growth areas before the smartphone market suffers the same fate of the conventional PC products.

According to reports, Apple is set embark on fresh projects starting 2014, presumably accelerating following the rumoured release dates of the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6, which should be September this year and Q1 2014 respectively.