The iPod’s decline accelerates as Q3 sales drop a record 32% year-over-year

Announced within its fiscal 2013 third-quarter earnings report, Apple today reported strong iPhone sales, but the iPod — the company’s pre-2007 hit — has continued to slip, falling a staggering 32 percent year-over-year (YoY) for Q3. Unsurprisingly, iPod revenues are down 31 percent YoY as well.

What is shows is simple: The iPod’s decline is accelerating.

This is not a new trend. Back in January, we reported that iPod sales were down 18 percent compared to sales from Q1 2012. Going back through 2010, we found that the iPod has never seen such a decline on a YoY basis. The previous high was a 27 percent drop in Q4 2011.

Here’s the a look at the awkward-yet-downward trend. The Y-axis is the YoY percent drop.

Here’s that same data in link form — in case you’re curious:

iPod down 19% Q4 2012, iPod down 10% Q3 2012, iPod down 15% Q2 2012, iPod down 20% Q1 2012, iPod down 27% Q4 2011, iPod down 20% Q3 2011, iPod down 17% Q2 2011, iPod down 7% Q1 2011, iPod down 11% Q4 2010, iPod down 8% Q3 2010, iPod down 1% Q2 2010, iPod down 8% Q1 2010

Seeing the iPhone eat away at iPod sales is no surprise, but it still paints an interesting picture of the way Apple cannibalizes its own products.