“The next few quarters will see Apple, Samsung and HTC battling it out for the biggest smartphone vendor out there.”
What it will not show, is the fight to have the most and best smartphone apps. Apple has so far won that battle, decisively.
I believe that, among other things, will continue to propel Apple to massive earnings, top consumer satisfaction ratings (as it already has), and continued domination over the inferior offerings of its competitors. The halo effect from iPod Touch and iPad should not be underestimated either. :-)
I would say there is a more than pretty solid case that the top of the line offerings from each of the major Android manufacturers is equal to the iPhone 4 and their previous generation phones are at least equal to the 3Gs which you can still get I believe.