So it was with the 1990's StarTAC, so it is with the RAZR. With a greater than 50 percent slide since its 2006 level of market share, Motorola is on track to fall to the back of the five-player pack this year as its first-quarter phone sales fell to 29.9 million units, Fortune reports.

Motorola's phone business "has tumbled since the RAZR phone fell out of fashion in 2006," the report said—which is essentially exactly what happened with the StarTAC years ago. "The company plans to spin off the money-losing business to shareholders sometime next year. And it's little wonder why. The former top phone maker has seen Nokia and Samsung take the No.1 and No.2 spots in the industry. And Motorola's time as No.3 seems limited—LG is hot on its heels with 8% of the market, up from 6.2% in the year-ago period."

The fact remains that Motorola needs more than one striking design every few years to be a contender. Motorola's various recently-introduced handsets "were not competitive enough to maintain its place in the market," says Gartner's Carolina Milanesi in the report.