iPhone 5 demand trumps Galaxy S III (and that smaller dock connector looks very real)

Samsung is riding high on the Galaxy S III after selling 10 million phones in under two months, but as attractive as its new smartphone is, it still can’t compete against Apple when it comes to consumer demand.

According to the latest survey from ChangeWave Research, 14 percent of consumers said they were “very likely” to purchase an iPhone 5, while 17 percent were “somewhat likely.” In comparison, only 2 percent of those surveyed said they were very likely to get a Galaxy S III, and 7 percent said they were somewhat likely.

Apple’s next iPhone is expected to land sometime in the fall (likely in October like the iPhone 4S), so at least Samsung has a good lure for consumers who need a new smartphone right away. 19 percent of consumers said they were planning to buy a Samsung smartphone over the next three months, according to the ChangeWave survey.

The big takeaway is that demand for the iPhone 5 has reached far beyond demand for the iPhone 4S. ChangeWave’s numbers from last year showed that only 10 percent of consumers were very likely to get the 4S and 11.5 percent were somewhat likely. Given that the iPhone 4S is the most successful smartphone ever, with 4 million units sold in just its first weekend, you can expect the iPhone 5 to see even crazier numbers upon its release.

In other iPhone 5 news, it looks like all of those past rumors about a smaller dock connector are likely true. Two sources tell Reuters that the next iPhone will sport a smaller 19-pin connector, which should be considerably smaller than the wide 30-pin port that has been standard on the iPhone and iPods over the past decade. The new dock connector should allow Apple to make the iPhone thinner and to cram in more hardware.

Not surprisingly, the new dock connector will likely spur on a new wave of iPhone accessories. But I suspect Apple will offer some sort of of adapter to let the iPhone 5 work with older accessories.

Based on current rumors, Apple’s iPhone 5 is expected to feature a longer, 3.95-inch screen and a quad-core A6 processor. Various case leaks online have pointed to the longer screen as well as the smaller dock connector.

Updated: iMore, which was one of the first sites to report on news of the iPhone 5’s smaller dock connector, reports that Apple will indeed have an adapter available to let the new iPhone use older accessories.

iPhone 5 mockup via Niilo Autio