The iPhone 3G beat Motorola's Razr as the most popular mobile phone in the U.S. during the third quarter, according to the NPD Group. It was the first time a smartphone has won the top-selling consumer phone, and the first time in the past three years that the Razr has been bumped from the first place, Media Post reported Monday.

However, the iPhone's gains were not enough to make up the overall phone sales loss in the quarter, which declined by 15 percent compared to 32 million units year-over-year. Handset sales revenue fell 10 percent to $2.9 billion, even though the average selling price was up six percent to $88.

The decline could be a sign for 2009 outlook, as the weakening economy forces consumers to consider budgets for mobile expenses more closely, Media Post reported.

For Apple Inc., iPhone sales totalling about seven million units bolstered the company's profit gain by 26 percent in the recent quarter. AT&T, the exclusive iPhone distributor in the United States, also gained benefits - selling 2.4 million devices in the quarter.

The iPhone's displacement of the Razr, is "a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. The 3G smartphone becoming the top-selling phone also "signals growing consumer interest in accessing the Web on the go," he added.

According to a M:Metrics study in July, 80 percent of iPhone owners use it to browse the Web, compared with only 32 percent of all other smartphone users, Media Post reported.

The BlackBerry Curve was next behind the Razr. LG, which doesn't sell any smartphones in the U.S., had the fourth- and fifth-best-selling phones with its Rumor and enV2 models.

“Clearly, it's not yet a requirement to have a leading smartphone or portfolio smartphone to do well in the U.S. market. Nevertheless, more would-be iPhone killers are on the way, with the recent debut of T-Mobile's G1 'Google' phone and the impeding release of Verizon's Storm from BlackBerry,” said Rubin, Media Post reported.

The buzz around these new devices along with continued strong performance for the iPhone could result in improved phone sales in the fourth quarter. However, the fact that consumer are conscious about spending less could slow sales for high-end phones in the coming year, Rubin added, according to Media Post.