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SINGAPORE, KOMPAS.com – Apple’s iPhone will likely dominate the high-end smartphone market in the next five years but faces strong competition from handsets using Google’s Android platform, a research firm said Tuesday.

By 2015, total mobile application downloads in the Asia-Pacific are forecast to reach 5.30 billion, of which 597.15 million, or about 11 percent, will be for the iPhone, technology industry consultancy Ovum said.

Downloads of iPhone applications are estimated at 62.16 million dollars in 2010, Ovum said in an analysis released four days before the launch of the new-generation iPhone 4 in another 17 countries and cities worldwide on Friday. The iPhone 4 is expected “to face much stiffer competition than its predecessors”, Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach said in a statement.

“The rise of Google Android over the last two years has been phenomenal and is allowing manufacturers to create appealing alternatives to the iPhone, critically at cheaper prices,” Leach said.

Handsets using the Android operating platform are more than just clones of the iconic iPhone, he said.

“The risk to Apple is that these devices offer greater freedom with available content and may prove more appealing, if it offers the right user and developer experience, than a device with Apple-approved content only,” said Leach.

“This may ultimately be what puts the brakes on unlimited iPhone growth.” From July 30, customers can purchase the iPhone 4 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. It will be available for purchase through Apple’s online store.

A new set of photos of a 4th generation iPhone prototype have surfaced on a Vietnamese website. The phone in the photos – which bears Apple markings – look almost identical to the one which was lost in March, photos of which were later published on the US gadget website Gizmodo.

If the new images prove to be authentic, and the components of the disassembled phone appear to confirm the provenance, then it marks another serious security breach for Apple.

According to a YouTube video accompanying the write-up on the Vietnamese website, the prototype was bought by a businessman from an unnamed source for $US4000.

The new prototype looks to include several new changes from the one lost in March, indicating that it might be a more advanced test unit.

Pictures of the phone’s innards reveal what looks to be a smaller version of the A4 CPU, the same processor family that drives the iPad.

Apple, which is known for its obsession about keeping new products under wraps, is due to release the 4G iPhone in a few months.

The discovery is a boon for companies which make iPhone accessories and gives them a valuable head start in designing new covers and pouches for the next model.

Last month Gizmodo pulled off a major scoop when it posted photos of the new iPhone, which had been left in a Silicon Valley bar by Apple engineer Gray Powell during his birthday drinks. The finder later sold the phone for $US5000 to Gizmodo, a gadget blog owned by Gawker Media.

According to Gizmodo, features of the new phone, expected to be unveiled later this year, include a front-facing video camera for video chat, a flash and an improved regular camera with a larger lens.

It also has a flat back instead of curved back, is thinner than the 3GS, is heavier and has a larger battery.