Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX supposedly outsells iPhone at Verizon

Anil Doradla, an analyst for William Blair, says he has found that the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX is currently the top-selling smartphone at Verizon - yes, even ahead of the iPhone 4S. In a recent report, Doradla said:

Since Apple’s iPhone launch in North America, we believe this was the first quarter where the iPhone was not the best‐selling smartphone at a North American mobile operator (where it was available). While Apple continued to maintain its top position at AT&T and Sprint, Motorola’s Droid RAZR MAXX was the best‐ selling smartphone at Verizon. Our checks also indicate that at this stage consumers are not pausing in front of the iPhone launch as it is not influencing their purchasing decisions (but we expect it to start impacting over the next couple of months). Despite the “increased competitive landscape from 4G devices (and the iPhone 4S is not 4G),” Doradia is “not worried” as the next iPhone model, a true 4G phone, “will be an important catalyst for the company,” he believes.

Android as a collective of many devices has overthrown iOS market share, but it's surprising to see a single smartphone beat out Apple's, especially in the U.S. Of course, it's hard to always take analyst "checks" at face value. AT&T's flagship Android smartphone is the HTC One X, and Sprint's is the HTC EVO 4G LTE - both impressive in their own rights, but it's interesting to hear that even without a bigger screen or LTE, the iPhone still manages to out-sell them. Who knows if iPhone will maintain its lead when the Samsung Galaxy S III hits the streets, but by that time, we won't have a long wait for the iPhone 5.

So, do you guys have any friends that picked up a RAZR MAXX instead of an iPhone 4S? Have you remotely interested in giving that particular Droid a try?

Source: Barron's

Simon Sage

Editor-at-very-large at Mobile Nations, gamer, giant.

49 Comments
  • whenever you go into a Verizon store all they push is Android phones and use the hardware talking points to cram the latest Android phone down your throat! My sister-in-law almost gave into the sales pressure until she called me, luckily she listened, bought the iPhone 4S and has been thanking me ever since. Her last phone was a Droid 2 that had multiple problems with practically no support from Verizon. To think she almost made the same mistake, some people are a glutton for punishment I guess.
  • Of course they do. Because the newest and greatest android phone this week will be old news in two weeks once they released the next 327 new android phones. That's why the only have a week or two to sell their stock or they have to toss them or give them away. iPhone is good for a whole year.
  • So you're saying Android phones are improving every few weeks, while iOS phones only improve once a year? And it appears that iOS 5 did not leapfrog (i.e. surpass), in features/functionality, the Android offerings at the time that it came out. And now iOS 6 appears to also not be anywhere near surpassing the features/functionality that Android phones will have available when iOS 6 comes out.
  • Exactly.
  • iPhone is good for a whole year huh?
    Wow.
  • "it's interesting to hear that even without a bigger screen or LTE, the iPhone still manages to out-sell them"
    No surprise at all. Why would you expect 4G phones to have as much draw when the carrier has miniscule 4G/LTE coverage? The sales reps would even be disincented to make a sales pitch for them because making a pitch for the coolness of 4G/LTE is a sales pitch for the customer to leave the AT&T or Sprint store and go to Verizon.
  • The droid razr MAxx is a good phone regardless of what IPhone lovers wanna say.
  • Agree. The MAXX is a great phone. This doesn't surprise me. I tried it for 2 weeks and did return it but only because I couldnt justify spending $200 when I already had a perfectly functional iPhone.
  • I have been interested in trying the razr maxx...Battery life is one of the biggest reasons I could not switch to an android device and although they have not fixed the reason for the battery drain, they solved it by putting in an oversized battery. I have 4 friends that have picked it up in the last month all coming from feature phones.
  • I haven't seen a single Droid Razr Maxx out and about. I find that hard to believe its outselling any other phone for that matter. Verizon does push Android devices though. My sister got talked into the Droid X (or whatever it's called) and really regrets it. It constantly locks up and takes forever to launch apps and open the camera. She has had to wipe it clean a couple of times now.
  • I see a lot of Droid RAZR devices (not sure if they're the original or Maxx variants). I actually kind of like them, but the non-removable battery is just a dealbreaker for an LTE phone.
  • I don't buy that story for one bit. All I see out in the public is iPhones. And with Verizon having the biggest customer base I really doubt that this is true.
  • Dont know if you're in a small/big town, but try leaving the Apple store once in a while & you'll probably peep a few different devices dude (just messing w/u)......I prefer iOS, but living in NYC I ALWAYS see Samsungs & HTCs out & about....strangely enough, Motos are probably the device I see the least. So I don't know who's snatching all those Razrs up, cause it ain't around here.
  • Just based on the push that the salesperson gave me for the original DROID RAZR when I went in to buy my Galaxy Nexus, I believe it. I've never had a salesman pitch a device so hard when I am in there specifically to buy a basically equivalent device with the same price.
    Plus, Verizon's CDMA 3G is terrible. Until there's an LTE iPhone, I have no idea why someone would want one on Verizon.
  • who cares...
  • Judging from all the excuses flying around on these comments, I'd say plenty of people. Why? I can't answer that.
  • Verizon sales men are good. They can sell crap,to anyone. I wonder how many of the phones are being returned in the 14 day window, because they are cheap crappy phones that brake way to often, and constantly need to have the battery pulled. Yes I sleek from expireance.
  • All Verizon cares about is selling big voice and data plans. And it so happens that Apple gets a fairly large cut of said plans for every iPhone they sell. Hence Verizon pushes phones made by other manufacturers who don't get that cut.
    Off-topic, but this kind of carrier marketing doesn't exist for pad computers. Carriers don't care much about devices that don't make voice phone calls. Therefore pad computers need to succeed on their own merits. Not from cell carrier hype. And that's one (major) reason why iPad is crushing the competition. It dominates because of consumer pull, not marketing push.
  • Really, you feel the marketing of the RAZR MAXX is superior to the iPhone? You can't be serious.
  • Umm, have you ever talked to some of those clowns at VZW??? Can't believe people actually think those cats know what they're talking about & fall for the generic sales pitch they give. It's not ALL of them (so if you're a knowledgable VZW rep, this isn't directed at you), but when I've had at least 5 sales reps & "techs" tell me they switched from (insert Android device here) to BB/iOS/WP7 bc they were confused or "overwhelmed" it's a bit scary that people take advice from them when those same employees couldn't understand the basics of the same smartphone/OS they are selling or attempting to fix. My Mac, iPad2, & 4s are my daily devices bc i prefer iOS but i also have a gNex & a Rezound that i like to mess with here & there, so i dont have any bias in terms of devices. Sorry, rant over, but I just find most store employees are a bit "special" when it comes to the exact thing they are advising others on.
  • This guy is always with the silly headlines.. " supposedly" "sulk" you really are childish in your writing.. should become a political pundit.. Numbers lie?
  • I bought the Maxx in March, and it's a fine device but at the end of the day it's an Android. I'm happier with my 4S, it came down to # & quality of apps vs battery life.
  • I am a Wireless Consultant for Verizon Wireless, while it is encouraged to sell Android devices for their profit and 4G capabilities, I still remain partial to my beloved Apple products. So as far as my personal records go, I absolutely sell more Apple products than anything else, because I think it truly performs all the "wants" and "needs" of any smartphone user, without constant bugs and glitches. On the other hand, most reps have the "PROFIT, PROFIT, PROFIT" mentality. Me, I like to stick to the old fashioned method of still making my monthly goals, but also making sure my customer gets something they will be happy with and something that is RELIABLE at the same time, which I have honestly never seen in the Android platform. Period...
  • Does the RAZR MAXX run Ice Cream Sandwich? If so, it may go a long way toward boosting ICS' puny 7.1% market penetration. That's barely 7.1% of all Android devices. After a full seven months on the market.
    Will be funny if Google announces Android 5, aka Jellybean, at Google I/O later this month. Gotta make some popcorn and watch the song-and-dance Larry Page does. "Forget all about Ice Cream Sandwich. Now there's a better version for all you 2.3 users to upgrade to. What? You can't upgrade? Oh, uhhhh.... Hey, nice weather today. Am I right folks?"
  • No, it still runs gingerbread.
  • OMG. I thought you were kidding.
    This is from the Android Central review in the "Bad" feature list: "It's still got Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread."
    2.3.x was first released on December 6, 2010. 65% of all Android devices still run 2.3.x as of June 1, 2012. After almost exactly a year and a half of Honeycomb (2.7%) and Ice Cream Sandwich (7.1%). And, of course, let's not forget 2.2 Froyo with its runner-up 19.1% slice of the Android pie.
    Upgrade shmupgrade. All Google cares about is ads. 96.5% of Google's revenue comes from ads. And all the carriers care about is selling big minute voice plans and capped data plans. Precious little incentive from anyone to provide Android updates. That explains everything.
  • Google did their part. The manufacturers and carriers are the issue.
    That said, Gingerbread is still more advanced than iOS 6, so other than fanboys, who cares?
  • Since it still crashes constantly and you can't even get most apps to works across all those devices(Hulu) then maybe the should cut back on advancing and ship an OS that actually makes the phones work. Or get some kind of app quality control!
  • I hope you're kidding. I've used GB on various Droids for since April 2011. I have used the Original Droid, the X and X2 and have Incredible and Incredible 2s in the family. Gingerbread is total junk. The only area where it is more advanced is in its ability to crash on a daily basis.
    The problem is that someone walking into a Verizon store rarely has several years of android experience. They have not suffered the poor GPS - they don't realize they need to pull the battery every few weeks or the GPS will lock onto the center of the Atlantic. They don't realize how sluggish it is compared to an iPhone, or how poor and slow the Motorola cameras are, or the lack of post sales support, or the lack of updates, or the vulnerability to malware.
    Verizon is preying on the ignorant masses who like the pretty big screen and know little else. I used android for 2 years and am never going back.
  • Really, crash on a daily basis? Sorry, haven't had that problem.
    On the other hand, I do have widgets that give me most of the info I need on a regular basis at a glance. I have voice control that launches apps and toggles system settings. I can download apps from anywhere I want. I have a dedicated camera button. I have had turn by turn navigation for some time. I can jailbreak it using instructions from the manufacturer. I can see what rights apps have. I could go on for quite a while. Does this mean it's better at everything and for everybody's needs? No. But it is more advanced in it's functionality, pretty hard to argue otherwise.
  • Google did their part alright, they rolled over for the carriers in ways Apple would never do. Thats the consequence of you being the product instead of the phone.
  • Not surprising. When we went to get an iPhone for my wife the sales woman pushed the RAZR(just the worst name) so hard that we got into a slight argument. I ended up telling her the RAZR was crap and not even the best Android device they had.
  • Worst name? Haha! Do you still remember the time when almost everybody owned a Motorola RAZR V3 series.. Yup, almost everybody including people you know. Or even you and you just didn't know it that time.
  • I do wish the battery in my 4S would last the whole day, but at the most I get about 10 hours with moderate use.
    At my college, on average I do see a 50/50 split between iPhone and Android users so it's really no surprise for me that the iPhone has been outsold.
  • Every manufacturer should be doing what Motorola has done with the Razr maxx. I don't care if the phone is 2mm fatter, I want the biggest battery I can get in a still decent sized package.
    I know at least a dozen people with the Razr maxx and see it all the time.
    If there was a GSM version with ICS I would have one. That battery just too amazing.
  • I have a friend with the Razr Maxx. He was already an Android user before getting the Maxx, though. I've played around with it. I gotta say that it's by far the best Android hardware I've personally played around with. And it's certainly tempting, especially since I was hoping for a bigger refresh for iOS 6. The major drawback for me, though, is the size. I'm so used to the iPhone... 4.3" to me is too big. I think I can handle the bump up to 4" with the next iPhone, but I'm glad they aren't (rumored to be) going any bigger than that.
  • Haven't you watched ios6 announcement? A guy in a car there has a TALL iphone docked..
  • I've had Verizon reps push Android phones but it's all a part of their job. I've had a few Android phones prior to the 4S and it was a love hate relationship. Enjoyed having the bigger screen and customization but hated the lag and sometimes ineffectiveness of the device. My Droid X, Droid Incredible & Incredible 2 all had problems with its Wifi & GPS. I know this problem was isolated to me but it was enough to make me switch to the 4S and I've had no problems. Sure there are some things I miss from Android but no deal breakers. To each his own.
  • does this even matter? all i care about is being able to buy what I want, and that it is in stock when I want to buy it...
  • Wait, now the the Iphone needs to be pushed by sales reps for continued success? I hope that's not what you fan boys are actually saying. Is this Crackberry now?
    This may shock many of you, but to alot of people belive battery life is pretty important. Being able to use a phone without regard to battery is liberating.
  • Yeah the Razr is actually far better than the iPhone. I love my iPad, I love iOS and the whole ecosystem. I sold my Desire HD to get another iPhone and my iPhone 4 is now on kijiji because I bought a Razr, installed ICS on it and the iPhone looks like junk in comparison. I am looking to put the Maxx battery into it which would make it even better. Now that I know iOS6 won't have turn by turn on iPhone 4 it makes my decision to sell even easier. The only thing that SUCKS about the razor is the screen. The dpi is supposedly high but it looks horrible for some reason (pentile matrix probably). It doesn't even look as crisp as the screen on the iPad 2 which had a far lower dpi and certainly not as nice as the screen on my iPhone 4 or my new iPad. Not a deal breaker though as they are coming out with the Razr HD soon
  • Verizon pays less for Android phones, put their name and tons of bloatware on them, and of course wants people to buy them and pay more for LTE. No mystery why they push them so hard. I wasn't in a rush for LTE until i got it on my iPad, now I want it on my phone too. But i can wait.
  • Hey i saw you on an Ad.. The girl you were talking to told you.. "Why dont you just get 4G phones?".. Cant seem to remember where i saw that advertisement..
  • Android OS is a POS
    Who cares about Android anyways
  • The point is not iPhone can compete in sales, the point is iPhone is going down now and just playing catch up with Android.. ICS won best platform 2012 A single handset not S3 outsells iPhones No innovative features introduced in iOS6 Making fun of Android is so old story.. Haha!
  • I love these little arguments back and forth about iPhone is better than Android and vice versa. I love how it's "wrong" for people to like and use one platform over another. It all boils down to the priorities of the user.
  • I seriously considered both the iPhone and the Maxx. Both are great phones with cons and pros. Being a Verizon customer the 4G was a serious consideration. I ended up with the Maxx for that reason and the battery life. I should also say that I dabble in rooting which is much easier on the Android. I know I would have been happy with the 4s as it is a great phone. I have not met anyone with either phone that regrets their decision.
  • Iphone is nothing more then rows and rows icons, and siri doesn't do half the crap that it can magically do on commercials, biggest waste of money ever, my next phone is going to be the htc one series, better screen resolution, bigger screen, widgits, and a app launcher, for the love of god apple quit with the endless rows of icons and get an app launcher so people can make custom home screens
  • I had been an iphone 3gs user since it was first released almost 3 years ago. I just recently bought a used Atrix 2 android phone on att as a stop gap to the Atrix3 or Galaxy S3.
    However how the Apple devoted forget. The crappy screen resolution, slow and grainy camera of the earlier iphones. Apple was getting beat up about the camera megapixels until the iphone 4. Also Apple really only updates there phones once every 2 years. The iphone 3g came out and was much better than the original, but then they released the 3gs which really was a small performance and ram upgrade, nothing major. Then the 4 comes out with the great screen and new design, app switching, etc. Then the 4s comes out and just another processor and ram upgrade. I call it the sh***y release and I was stuck on it.
    Yes Apple has upgraded me for the last 3 years, but what I saw was always playing catch up to Android. Might as well call iOS5 iAndroid5 and it completely stole a lot from android. iCloud, pull down menu, etc.
    Anyway Apple makes a solid product for those who want to be told how to use their phone. Personally I like choice. I was nervous hearing all the bad rumors of Android crashing,etc.
    Well I must say I am thrilled. Gingerbread on the Atrix 2 has been great and my job just got me a Asus Transformer Tablet (quad core running ICS) and it is by far better than iOS. They few issues I have with Gingerbread compared to iOS5 have been resolved with ICS.
    Also don't forget the iphone 3g upgrade to iOS 4 disaster. Basically made the phone slower than molasses and Apple would not let you downgrade back to ios3, forcing you to buy a new phone. Then a major security flaw comes out and apple says no more 4.x upgrades for the 3g owners. So Apple has issues as well.