A better comparison would be to a quarter introducing a new phone model - Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones in Q1 2012, the fiscal quarter during which the iPhone 4S launched.
I think that's a good comparison. Maybe not to the iPhone 4S though as by then the franchise was established as where the S III is, up till now, a less established brand. But you're right that we should compare some sort of launch to launch data.