Even with the launch of many popular Android, and Windows phones, Apple’s iPhone 4 and the older iPhone 3GS still top market research company, NPD’s top 5 best-selling mobile handset list for the third quarter. While many people have hunted the iPhone 4S ever since launch, it would not show up in this list as this list does not represent a significant time after the launch of the new iPhone.

The top 5 best-selling mobile handsets include:

  1. Apple iPhone4
  2. Apple iPhone 3GS
  3. HTC EVO 4G
  4. Motorola Droid 3
  5. Samsung Intensity II

What is surprising about this list is the dominance of the older Apple iPhone 3GS over the very powerful, and impressive Android phones. The iPhone 3GS was released back in 2009, while other Android devices are all very recent handsets. Apple has gone on record claiming that they do not wish to fragment their line up of devices, which Android has clearly done. Maybe this is a really good look at how this affects people’s buying patterns? At the time of this the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS both were marked done, increasing their number of sales dramatically even when people knew the upcoming refresh to the iPhone line was just waiting around the corner.

With the launch of the Apple iPhone 4S in October, Apple continues to sell the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS at marked down prices of $99 for the 8GB iPhone 4 on contract and the 8GB iPhone 3GS for free on a contract. Even with the very impressive sale numbers of the newest Apple handset, iPhone 4S, the two cheaper and older versions are still selling to those individuals not wanting to give up an arm and a leg to buy the iPhone 4S but still wish to get in on the awesomeness that is iOS5.

Do you have an Apple iPhone 4 or 3GS or even the 4S, let us know what you think of your device in the comments below.