With the iPhone 5’s reported release less than one month away, iPhone prices and sales have dropped, while reports about the device’s new features have continued swirling. According to new industry research, Apple’s iPad has continued its market dominance. And, as we say goodbye to the 2012 Summer Olympics, it’s clear that mobile earned “gold” as the channel delivering the greatest online audience engagement during the Games.

Retailers are marketing down current iPhone models to make way for the speculated new iPhone 5. According to AllThingsD, retailers, including Best Buy and Target, are selling iPhones for much less than they have in the past. Best Buy is retailing the eight-gigabyte iPhone 4 for $49, and Target is offering the Verizon and AT&T versions of the iPhone 4S for $179. Apple stores are even matching those prices, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile as anticipation builds ahead of the iPhone launch, smartphone sales have stalled. According to analyst firm Gartner, global sales dipped 2.3 percent in Q2 to 419 million units worldwide, down from 428 million the same period last year. iPhone sales dropped nearly 13 percent from Q1, but increased 46 percent from 2011. “High-profile smartphone launches from key manufacturers such as the anticipated Apple iPhone 5, along with Chinese manufacturers pushing 3G and preparing for major device launches in the second half of 2012, will drive the smartphone market upward,” said Anshul Gupta, Gartner principal research analyst, to FierceMobileContent.

In other Apple news, the iPad continued its reign as king of tablets. According to research firm HIS iSuppli, Apple secured nearly 70 percent of the tablet market in Q2 with 17 million shipments worldwide. Samsung took second place with 9.2 percent for 2.3 million shipments, Amazon finished third with 4.2 percent and Asus logged fourth with 2.8 percent. The figures didn’t include Google’s Nexus 7. “Apple’s major media tablet rivals, Google and Microsoft, hope to challenge Apple in the second half of the year, but will be facing formidable headwinds with no sign that the market leader is backing off of its aggressive strategy in the market,” said Rhoda Alexander, director for tablet and monitor research for HIS, in a CNET piece.

With the Summer Olympics now closed, new statistics bestowed mobile the gold medal for online audience engagement. According to Alex Balfour, head of new media for the London 2012 Olympics, 60 percent of visits to the official London2012.com site and apps came from mobile devices. The ratio was so high because the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games had several apps and websites on the market, reported paidContent.