According to a new study by The NPD group, Apple’s iPhone surpassed Motorola’s RAZR as far as sales are concerned. The data, which is for U.S. adult consumers, shows the iPhone as the first phone to overtake the RAZR after 12 consecutive quarters at the top. "The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," said NPD's Ross Rubin. "Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features."

Motorola's Razr, first introduced in 2004, has been the top ranked handset for 12 straight quarters. Despite the fact that the first iPhone was successful, it appears that the new version of the phone, which supports 3G network speeds, is even more successful. For its fiscal fourth quarter, Apple reported it had sold 6.9 million iPhones, more than it sold during all previous quarters combined.

While the Razr fell on the second place, the top five also includes the BlackBerry Curve on the third place, LG Rumor and LG enV2 round the top five.

NPD’s results show that having a camera was necessary for 43% of buyers. Text and picture messaging capabilities were paramount to 36% of buyers. Bluetooth was available on 83% of all handsets sold. Music playback capabilities were included on 68% of phones. Lastly, QWERTY keyboards were available on 30% of handsets sold during the third quarter.

Apple’s iPhone has only been on sale for a year now, and yet it keeps winning over new customers, and displacing the old standbys, reflecting the customers’ new tendency of using their headphones for more than just a simple phone call.