Samsung and their Galaxy S II continue to cramp Apple’s style. First, they toss a pie at the face of Apple’s tribe of loyalists, then Samsung wins Pocket-lint’s Gadget Award for Best Phone of the Year and then, only a couple of days later, they manage to fend off the release of Apple’s iPhone 4S and retain the spot of the best selling phone in the UK for November. This latest victory for Samsung marks the eighth consecutive month the Galaxy S II has topped the list of phone sales in the UK.

Some assert that iPhone’s failure to overtake the Galaxy S II in sales is owed to a supply deficiency during the Apple device’s first month on the shelves. However, Samsung has received some attention because of the aggressive initiative taken in targeting Apple and the iPhone 4S with advertisements that attempt to make the case that it’s now cool to not be an affected cool person (This is basically the “I know you are but what am I?” tactic in cellphone battles). So far, Samsung has given no quarter to Apple – they won’t even let Apple be the only company with claims of crotch-combusting technology. That’s some real dedication you got to winning there, Samsung.

It’s a telling sign of the times whenever Apple “fails” to be number one at something and that constitutes news, as if they are perpetually expected to be this juggernaut of technology that topples all competitors without breaking a sweat. That’s the high cost of being awesome a lot, I suppose. At this point it’s hard to conclude whether Samsung’s ad campaign has been pivotal enough to actually depress sales of the iPhone 4S or, as retailers have speculated, if the only thing keeping Apple from trouncing the Galaxy S II in the UK is merely a matter of supply-and-demand. I haven’t seen any data that supports the latter explanation – if you have found any, please post in the comments.