Apple is unlikely to rush its planned iPhone 6 release date on 2014 as the tech giant's current flagship, the iPhone 5S, reportedly routed Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3. As of November 2013, Apple is the smartphone king.

According to Apple Insider, the iPhone 5S topped the global smartphone sales last month, capturing majority of buyers from major markets with emphasis in North America and China, which together make up the biggest chunk of the world's mobile device market.

Citing the data provided by Cannacord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley, the same Apple Insider report stated that the iPhone 5S is "by far the top-selling smartphone (in November) at most channels where the smartphone launched globally."

A separate report from research firm Counterpoint, as published by CNET, indicated too that the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5 and iPhone 5C cracked the Top 5 bestselling smartphone in October 2013, occupying number one, two and four respectively.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 and Note 3 only placed number three and five though it should be noted that the Asian tech giant has three more handsets that secured spots in the Top 10 namely the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4 Mini and the Galaxy S3 Mini.

Yet the most notable surge is that of Apple, which Counterpoint said upped its market share in China from three per cent in September 2013 to 12 per cent in the following month.

Picking up from the rosy figures, Cannacord revised its projections for Apple's overall iPhone sales in financial year 2013-14 - upgrading from 171 million units to 175 million by the end of September 2014.

Walkley also told CNET that the iPhone 5S will continue headlining the Apple smartphone juggernaut in fiscal 2015, allowing the tech titian to amass some 193 million of total sales.

With the whopping figures forecasted by Cannacord, it appears that the pressure for Apple to rush the rumoured iPhone 6 release date next year has been lifted. All indicators suggest that the troika of iPhone 5S, 5C and 5 are well-equipped to likely dislodge Android handsets, led by Samsung's Galaxy phones, in 2014.

Still, analysts are expecting Apple to push out it next generation iOS smartphone by the second half of next year to pick up the pace already established by the 5S and 5C.

Likely, the next iPhone will stay on course with Apple's product update cycle template of introducing the device in late Q3 2014 and opting for commercial availability in early Q4 of the same year.

However, some Apple watchers are convinced that the next iPhone refresh will be a little earlier, probably on June 2014.

And the iOS universe can expect the rollout of two builds that will debuted separately. One would be a 4.5-inch that will replace the iPhone 5C and should come out earlier.

The other one is the more premium iPhone 6 that likely will sport a screen size of between 4.7-inch and 5.0-inch, which according to Ming-chi Kuo is the screen profile that is in line with Apple's aim of delivering a large-screen iPhone that is optimised for one-hand use.

On its late 2014 release date, the phablet-size iPhone 6 will be powered by an A8 64-bit processing chip, housed in a tough Liquidmetal case that melds with a wraparound display panel that is protected by sapphire glass. Also, the whole device make will be coated in sapphire.