Customers inspect the iPhone at a Apple store
© AFP/File Gabriel Bouys

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The report comes on the heels of studies showing that iPhones have taken the place of BlackBerry handsets as second-best selling mobile telephones worldwide and are half as likely to break down as the Research-In-Motion devices.

Nokia remains the mobile phone market leader worldwide.

US sales of iPhone 3G models in the third-quarter of this year topped those of former market-leader Motorola RAZR mobile telephones for the first time, according to NPD.

"The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," NPD director of analysis Ross Rubin said in a release.

"Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features."

BlackBerry Curve models made by Canada-based RIM were the third most popular mobile telephones among US buyers in the third-quarter, according to NPD.

©AFP