The author is cherry-picking data to fit the story he wanted. There is no rhyme or reason to the items/products he chose. Comparing all iphone iterations to singular items doesn't make sense.
Coke? McDonalds burgers? KFC dinners? The Bible? Having all of these sold in the tens or hundreds of billions?
How about YKK zips. They sell 7 billion a year. Not bad for a branded & non-edible product.
Comments like that second to last paragraph are why people compare apple to cults. Could you be less self aware?
This is why people laugh about apple fanboys. They're living in a delusion.
If "iPhone" is a single product, I bet that one could find a group of Nokia phones similar to each other that sold a billion pieces. Single Nokia models sold 250 million alone.