Happenstance and an outdated SIM card brought me this week to a Vodafone shop in Royal Tunbridge Wells, about 40 miles southeast of London, where pride of place went to a display of what the store manager assured me were the best-selling smartphones at Vodafone shops across the United Kingdom.
I jotted down the manufacturers and models, clockwise from front:
HTC One mini 2
HTC One (m8)
Apple iPhone 5C
Apple iPhone 5S
Nokia Lumia 635
Nokia Lumia 930
Samsung Galaxy S4
Sony Xperia Zz2
LG G2
LG G3
If this list were accurate, it would be an interesting piece of raw data.
It would mean, for example, that Sony’s newest model, which made hardly a ripple in the global market, is outselling Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S5, the latest offering from a company that shipped more phones last quarter, according to IDC, than Apple, HTC, LG and Sony combined.
I can’t prove it, but I suspect this display says more about salespeople’s commissions at Vodafone U.K. than actual sales, giving new meaning to the word “bestseller.”
Best for whom?
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple (AAPL) coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed.
