Apple iPhone 5 Rated Worst Top Smartphone by Consumer Reports

Despite its running title of "best smartphone in the market" for the past five years, Apple's iPhone seems to be losing traction among critics, as Consumer Reports has rated the company's iPhone 5 as the worst of the top smartphones.

The results appear in the February issue of the magazine in the summary box of Consumer Reports' lab tests, where the company lists the numerical ratings out of a scale of 100 of smartphones by carriers. While the summary gives no explanation for the ratings, Apple's latest and greatest barely made the cut for the top three spots on AT&T and Sprint, with the iPhone 5 coming in behind the LG Optimus G and the Samsung Galaxy S III on both networks.

Despite the close numerical ratings, with the Apple smartphone only ranking one point below Sammy's GS3 for both carriers, they are unequivocal according to Consumer Reports. Meanwhile, the iPhone 5 missed out on the top three spots all together for Verizon, as the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx hD, the Motorola Droid Razr HD and the Samsung Galaxy S III were ranked the highest for smartphones offered by Big Red.

While Consumer Reports generally prefered LG and Motorola models to the very popular Samsung Galaxy S III, it's interesting to note that not too long ago the magazine declared Apple's iPhone 5 among the best smartphones available, in addition to the best iPhone yet. Giving no reason for the rapid drop in ratings since its October declaration, Consumer Reports could be choosing favorites once again.

Yet, this could also be a sign that Apple is losing its edge when it comes to smartphones, as competitors like Samsung seem to be turning out new handsets at what feels like every month. With the Cupertino company said to be working away on an iPhone 6 that will allegedly launch less than a year after its predecessor, perhaps Apple is taking these shifts into consideration.