Latest NPD data shows RAZR V3 still top-selling handset in America

No need to defog your spectacles, what you just read there in the headline is the truth. Astoundingly enough, Motorola's nearly archaic (in cellphone years, anyway) RAZR V3 is still the top-selling handset in the United States. Of course, it helps that it's highly subsidized on practically every carrier from coast to coast, but we're still a little stunned that it's selling this well nearly 2.5 years after Moto moved its 50 millionth unit. The rest of the top five isn't nearly as shocking, with Apple's iPhone snagging the silver, RIM's BlackBerry Curve grabbing the bronze, LG's Chocolate at number four and the BlackBerry Pearl at five. With the original RAZR still selling so well, one would think Motorola could just tweak it slightly and issue a second iteration for even more windfall profits. Er, wait.

[hariss @ Oct 8th 2008 9:13PM]

why am i not surprised.

[Patrick R @ Oct 8th 2008 9:44PM]

probably the same reason im not surprised...
even if it is a mediocre phone, its shiny. the unwashed masses enjoy shine.

[iofthestorm @ Oct 8th 2008 9:55PM]

@Patrick: Hmm, that kind of says something about the iPhone...

[nikster @ Oct 8th 2008 10:02PM]

"the unwashed masses enjoy shine"

What they enjoy even more is free. The RAZR, crappy as it is, is still the best of the free-with-new-contract phones.

[Anthony @ Oct 8th 2008 10:09PM]

lol these fone sell like hotcakes for the following reasons ...

1. very very cheap (price)
2. very very very very cheap (quality)
3. UNLOCKABLE

with that said.. many people break there fones .. cant seem to buy a nice new shiny one ... alternative.. RAZR T_T

lol i use to have one sadly T_T that bitch still laggs like a mother -______-"

[deedeedee @ Oct 9th 2008 12:08AM]

Not surprised either, but just very curious why that's only happening in America?

I thought the Razr was a true piece of shit with its UI, but I do like its form so it'd be alot better if it only had 4 icons on the screen - Call/Contact, Text, time/alarm, calendar - thats all the Razr need, not even setting or wallpaper, and get rid of that stupid camera.

[John Russell @ Oct 9th 2008 1:26AM]

I thought it was just because they break every time you get a new one. Then you go get a new one.
GOTO 1

[bangladeshiluv @ Oct 9th 2008 1:30AM]

oh gawd. this phone is horrible in every way imaginable. except for it's shine.

[Yuriy @ Oct 11th 2008 3:55PM]

... and the most lowest radiation level!

[noyp @ Oct 9th 2008 8:50AM]

nikster, I got my blackberry pearl for free, but the razr is probably the most sturdy free phone though

[nikster @ Oct 9th 2008 10:13AM]

You got the BB pearl for free? In this case, I wish to retract my comment.

[iEye @ Oct 8th 2008 9:15PM]

Well, there is such a thing as prepaid, when you can get these crap Moto RAZR phones to teenie boppers for $69 with airtime included, you will sell volume...

Hopefully these young adults will wise up and choose Apple iPhone after being horribly scarred by Motorola's dated UI...

[IndiaTech @ Oct 8th 2008 9:35PM]

Considering that these "Young Adults" barely have enough money to pay for student loans / college I think it's wise of them to use a $0 "disposable" phone than $200 piece of luxury...

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Oct 8th 2008 9:43PM]

Worst comment for today.

[feffrey @ Oct 8th 2008 9:59PM]

My AT&T prepaid was only $20 for a Nokia 6102i. And it is a great phone. It is a phone! Thats it! it sends and receives calls! All I ever want or need in a phone is the ability to make calls.
Oh and $25 every three months for a few minutes is perfect for how much I talk.

[Jamesology @ Oct 8th 2008 10:03PM]

I agree with Thi mam and Indian tech. To put it in simple words: iEye is an idiot.

[Seth @ Oct 8th 2008 10:42PM]

I had a RAZR, thus, I got a new phone. I threw my RAZR against the wall and the screen came off. The bottom half still works and it can receive calls, I just can't hear people (not that important, right?). Good luck throwing your iPhone against a wall and seeing if that thing lives.

[Poom @ Oct 8th 2008 11:44PM]

I hope iEye would shut up forever.

[CraigJ @ Oct 9th 2008 12:03AM]

Or maybe donate it to someone who could obviously put it to better use. Besides, everyone knows that real men soak their old phones with gasoline and hit them with a road flare.

[noyp @ Oct 9th 2008 8:52AM]

iDiot. What happened to the polar opposite iEye?

[noyp @ Oct 9th 2008 8:56AM]

Most of my friends have pretty nice phones for teenie boppers ex. blackjack2, envy2, q9, p990i (sorry for the double post, I only read the bottom part of his comment.)

[7on @ Oct 9th 2008 9:18AM]

@ Seth

I have, and it works fine.

[ChrisTheFeral @ Oct 8th 2008 9:17PM]

That's sorta surprising, but understandable to.

If only it had a better GUI

[kevin @ Oct 8th 2008 9:19PM]

Kinda weird three of those phones I have owned before (my first phone was a razr then a pearl but now I use an iPhone) all in all great phones except the razr. That was a fragile useless piece of shit!

[Badger_badger_badger @ Oct 8th 2008 9:24PM]

Wow, RAZR, BB Pearl, iPhone. You can tell a lot someone by their choice in phones.

[Ignatius @ Oct 8th 2008 9:40PM]

Can you tell who I am? I had a Samsung A680, a Samsung M520 and now I have an LG Voyager.

:O

[Rogue_Genius @ Oct 8th 2008 9:45PM]

"That was a fragile useless piece of shit!"

Really, fragile? I know the RAZR wasn't the sturdiest piece of Moto kit, but that thing was tough as anything. It would certainly last longer than your iPhone. Moto products are damn near bulletproof, particularly their iDen (nextel) products. What made yours so fragile, anyway?

[sip @ Oct 8th 2008 11:18PM]

I've had my razr for at least a year and a half now... It hasn't broken once. It's time to update though, I just don't know what to buy next... there are way too many good choices.

[Charlotte @ Oct 9th 2008 7:14AM]

My Razr V3i has been like a tank! I couldn't begin to count how many times I've dropped it on hard concrete, and it's still going strong. Fragile my butt!

[thiel @ Oct 12th 2008 7:54PM]

Me too, it's mostly metal and feels very sturdy compared to most phones. The form factor is great, very this, still stylish, just very out of date technically.

[216 @ Oct 8th 2008 9:21PM]

Its prolly cuz its free and is on every single carrier/service

[henry @ Oct 8th 2008 9:22PM]

eh, it's a decent phone for people who arent really power users or care too much about being "hip"... my mom and my uncle both have them and love them, but they use their cellphones maybe twice a day and never send text messages, so take that as you will.
too bad they've never improved the hinge design... :(

[michas_pi @ Oct 8th 2008 9:22PM]

Proud owner of a RAZR V3xx.

Still, no matter how much I praise this phone, the battery life still sucks.

[Asten @ Oct 9th 2008 12:12PM]

Yah, all 3G phones have crappy battery life though.

I have a V3xx too, and i agree - it's stellar.. especially with Opera Mini. The built in browser isn't great.

[michas_pi @ Oct 9th 2008 5:35PM]

@Asten:

Oh, I know about the horrid power consumption of 3G chipsets. It's a minor setback for me, though.

And yes, the built-in browser is ass and fail. Opera Mini FTW.

[ShogunMaster @ Oct 8th 2008 9:22PM]

Not a surprise at all.

Marketing campaign = Hot chick, short black dress, flipping and spinning in the most sexually charged fight ever.

I still watch that commercial...

[Viakenny @ Oct 8th 2008 10:16PM]

that's actually the RAZR2 ad. but that girl is still hot.
just like that short-haired girl in that black outfit in the first RAZR ad.

[Walton @ Oct 8th 2008 11:33PM]

I like it very much!

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Oct 9th 2008 7:07AM]

Horny bastards...

[noyp @ Oct 9th 2008 8:58AM]

Is that a bad thing? I guess so on a gadget blog, where the most action some people will have is with their hand. :(

[Brian @ Oct 8th 2008 9:25PM]

umm well it is kinda obvious that the razr is still the highest selling phone in the US because ~95% of all tweens have their first cell phone be a razr because they are cheep and easily replaceable if broken in the washing machine.

[Ken @ Oct 8th 2008 9:26PM]

The only reason it still "sells" is because it's practically given away now. The margin of profit is near nil. That's why the big M had such financial issues. Their philosophy was, "if we make a tweaked version of an existing phone, then people will think it is innovation". The only problem, other companies (RIM, Apple, HTC, etc.) innovated for realz and punted Moto's product line. The only way Moto can sell the RAZR2 at original RAZR quantities is to sell them at original RAZR prices. Since they can't justify that, the original RAZR will always outsell any XYZR Moto pushes out the doors.

[Aditya Chopra @ Oct 8th 2008 9:28PM]

Sometimes a phone just needs to be a phone.

[happy_penguin @ Oct 8th 2008 9:34PM]

Well said.

I had a ver 1 razr and it was a hot mess. I hear that subsequent versions corrected a lot of the issues. The one thing I did always like about it is that when opened it is easy to hold and when it wasn't dropping calls or cutting in and out I could hear very well. A few people in my family have them and they seem to have much better luck than I did. It's a nice form factor. It' fits in almost any pocket very well and it looks good.

[h @ Oct 9th 2008 10:03AM]

A caterpillar just need to be a caterpillar. But then, it becomes... (suspense) a butterfly!

[corey143 @ Oct 8th 2008 9:31PM]

Hate these phones, my last one broke down so badly I had to macguyver up a popsicle-stick splint to the back of it just to keep it from snapping in half, not to mention the loss of the middle button and the cracked top screen. Not to mention the crappy UI has the performance of an asthmatic cross country runner.

[Bob @ Oct 8th 2008 9:46PM]

I love stories..

[happy_penguin @ Oct 8th 2008 9:48PM]

You mean like Days of Our Lives or All My Children stories?

[mo @ Oct 9th 2008 2:55AM]

yeah..they are close to free, or free with most providers.

they really don't hold up too well, only phone worse is probably the motorolla W490, that thing is AWFUL.

[digitallysick @ Oct 8th 2008 9:42PM]

The gui is horrible but the phone is cheap , women like it, (and mostly all i see that use it)