Motorola revenue up thanks to Droid

By Jeffrey Van Camp October 28, 2010

motorola-droid-and-razr — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Motorola has a hit smartphone line on its hands, something it hasn’t been able to say for several years. The mobile phone manufacturer posted revenue of $5.8 billion in the third quarter of 2010, while estimates had it pegged at $5.66 billion. It is Motorola’s first year-over-year revenue increase since late 2006, reports Bloomberg. The company can thank its CEO Sanjay Jha’s gamble on the Android smartphone OS for the increase in sales. Android has become the most popular smartphone operating system, overtaking the iPhone, thanks to successful devices like the Motorola Droid line.

“He bet on Android two years ago when it was still a risky platform,” said Matt Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC in Boston. “He made the right choices. So far, he’s been excellent.”

Motorola shipped 9.1 million phones during the three-month period, including 3.8 million smartphones. Analysts expected the company to ship 3.57 million smartphones. Motorola’s phone unit posted a $3 million operating profit, which is impressive when compared to the $183 million loss it posted last year.

The Motorola Droid line represents the company’s first big hit since sales of its flagship Razr phones rose to dominance in the middle of the last decade. The Razr sold 110 million units before it slowly fell off the charts in the later half of the decade. Its decline is tightly linked to Apple introducing the iPhone in 2007. Motorola has been unable to replicate the massive success of the Razr. The Droid line represents its first smart gamble in some time.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

Mobile

Samsung messed up the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s most important feature

Two Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 phones next to each other.

Samsung just held its latest Galaxy Unpacked July 2023 event in Seoul, Korea, and it was packed with a ton of new upcoming products. We have the next generation of foldables with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5, as well as the Galaxy Watch 6 series and Galaxy Tab S9 lineup.

But let’s take a closer look at the Galaxy Z Flip 5, which is hot on the heels of the latest Motorola Razr Plus. Both flip phones are pretty similar with that larger cover display, but unfortunately, this is where Samsung really fumbled the ball.

Mobile

Motorola’s folding phone just had a durability test — and it’s painful to watch

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra broken cover screen.

Motorola’s latest clamshell foldable, the Motorola Razr Plus, has won well-deserved praise for its design and the functionally rewarding cover screen that occupies almost one-half of the rear panel. In my brief time with the phone, I felt that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 5 will have a hard time beating this one.
Praise aside, it looks like the Razr Plus' top selling point could also be its undoing. Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything put the phone through his customarily brutal stress and bend test, and the Razr Plus failed at an unexpected point.
This has NEVER happened before...
While applying pressure on the rear side of the phone to check the hinge strength, the lower edge of the cover display breaks rather awkwardly. First, the screen shatters, and then, the glass assembly can be seen caving inside.
“Never have we ever been able to break a screen with a single finger,” says Nelson. However, it appears that the cover screen’s fragility has more to do with the gap underneath than the structural integrity of the glass itself.
It seems the area right above the hinge is hollow, which means putting pressure on the cover display could damage the screen, as there is no solid support underneath. Simply put, don’t put the phone in the back pocket of your denim jeans, and take care about putting heavy objects over the phone.
What’s really surprising is that unlike the Google Pixel Fold’s fragile frame and hinge mechanism, the Motorola Razr Plus didn’t show any such signs of damage. There was no permanent damage recorded due to the phone bending in the reverse direction, and the flexible OLED screen also remained intact.

It’s quite paradoxical that the cover display — which Motorola markets as the Razr Plus's standout feature — is also the part that is uncannily fragile. But the rest of the package seems solid.
Motorola told Digital Trends in an emailed interview that the Razr Plus ships “with an optimized inner structure stacking and stronger housing design” and that it also features “the industry’s first dual-axis tracking in the teardrop hinge.”
Compared to the previous-generation Razr foldable phones, this one can survive 400,000 folding cycles, twice that of its predecessors. It’s a great phone, and if you want to see how it stands out, Digital Trends Prakhar Khanna had some fun with its cover screen to see everything that it can accomplish. And it's great! So long as you don't accidentally shatter it like this.

Mobile

5 awesome things you can do on the Motorola Razr Plus cover screen

Moo on Motorola Razr Plus

The Motorola Razr Plus is easily one of the best, if not the best, flip phones right now. The 3.6-inch cover display is the biggest you can get on a clamshell foldable, and Motorola has put in serious efforts to utilize the outer screen to its full potential — unlike what Oppo did with its Oppo Find N2 Flip.

I’ve had the Razr Plus for a week now, and I keep discovering new ways to utilize the cover display. Here are five awesome things that you can do with it.
Moo time is the best