Three years ago, Android phones still ranged from 'passable' to 'utter *****'. (And Android fans *still* harped that it was better *despite* the lower sales numbers.) These days, Android phones range from actually passable to wonderful. (And now Android fans claim that better sales numbers, for all Android handsets combined vs. the latest iPhone model, are *proof* that their favorite Android handset is better than the iPhone.)
There's only two other markets in the world where people talk about one vendor's product vs. the entire rest of those markets. Oddly enough, they just so happen to be the other two markets where Apple is a significant player. (Computers, and digital music devices.)
There was a time when the Ford Taurus outsold *every* other car in it's class. Not as individuals, but as a whole. That is *amazing* from a success stand point, and I don't think there's been a model of car that has done that since. On the other hand, there have been several cars which have outsold each other car in its class for a period of time.
The strange fascination that Android fans seem to have with being able to 'unseat' a device which had been selling better than everything else in its class *combined*, so that it is only outselling each *individual* device in its class is mind boggling.
The numbers would, of course, be easier to compare if more Android handset manufacturers would limit themselves to release rates less than a device a day.

(I'm thinking it was HTC that was recently discovered to have averaged just shy of a two device per day release rate for the first half of this year, but I could be misremembering the manufacturer.)