Yahoo: iPhone 5 top searched gadget, second overall to 'election' Plenty of awe-inspiring gadgets came out in 2012, but none was more searched for than the iPhone 5. According to the 2012 Yahoo year in review report, the latest Apple smartphone clinched the top spot for 2012's top searched gadgets on Yahoo. The iPhone 5 managed to accomplish that feat despite not going on sale until late September. But of course, news sites all over the world wrote about rumors surrounding the device throughout the year, so the results aren't too surprising. Apple in general dominated searches, with three of its gadgets landing at the top of the list. The second most searched gadget was the third-generation iPad, which was searched for under "ipad 3." It released in March. And in third place was the iPad mini, which launched about a month ago. Rounding out the top five most searched gadgets was the iPhone 5's bitter rival, the Samsung Galaxy S III, followed by the Kindle Fire, the Amazon tablet. The search success of the iPhone 5, however, extended beyond the world of tech. Apple's smartphone was Yahoo's second most searched overall topic, beating out the likes Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton and Kate Middleton. The iPhone 5 fell only to searches for the 2012 election, which were searched for under "election." And out of searches made using a smartphone, the iPhone was the top topic. It beat out "scrabble word finder" and "fantasy football" for the first-place spot in mobile searches. The iPhone 5 was also Yahoo's top obsession for 2012, which is calculated based on high search volume and a high percentage spike compared with last year. In that category "political polls" and "mega millions" came behind the latest iPhone 5. Facebook also enjoyed some search success. "Facebook IPO" was the 10th most searched for news topic of the year, while "how to buy facebook stock" was the second most searched for how-to topic of 2012. Large-tablet roundup: iPad vs. Nexus 10 vs. Surface