Even though according to Forbes, Apple has cranked the 500 millionth iPhone off the assembly line, this milestone has been met with little acknowledgement by Apple.

In the past, Apple has used various milestones to promote its products and services; however, Apple has rarely done so for sales of its physical products. Instead, it has focused these efforts on milestones of sales in the App Store, or in the iTunes store. While it did recognize 30 years of the Mac recently, and in the past made some celebratory systems such as the 20th Anniversary Mac, these have not undertaken with a prize in mind for someone who passes this milestone.

Even though the 500 millionth iPhone has likely been created, that number is far gone in the past as the numbers have undoubtedly surged far past that by the time of this writing. As for the special iPhone unit marking this milestone, it may have made it to shelves, or perhaps it was inadvertently dropped in the factory and sent to the discard bin. Either way, instead of noting it, Apple is simply moving on to the 500 millionth and first iPhone.

However, the news here is primarily that iPhone sales are not only increasing, but doing so at a swift rate. According to Apple financial data, since the first quarter of 2012, overall iPhone sales have climbed at a rate of about 175 million units sold per year. The real question is, will this trend continue, or is it bound to level off?