Motorola said it shipped 8.3 million cellular handsets in the second quarter -- including 2.7 million smartphones, or 400,000 more units than the company shipped in the prior quarter. Overall, the company said it earned $162 million -- up from $26 million in the same period last year.

However, Motorola said its mobile-device shipments declined from 8.5 million in the first quarter and mobile-device sales were $1.7 billion, down six percent year over year. Additionally, the company reported an operating loss of $109 million for its mobile-device business.

As a possible sign of better days to come, Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha noted that demand for the company's Droid X has been "exceeding our expectations" since its launch earlier this month. "I believe we have momentum going into the third and fourth quarter," Jha said. "As we continue to execute on our business strategy, we are in a strong position to continue improving our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market and improving our operating performance."

Betting On Android

According to Gartner, Motorola ranked sixth in the global smartphone market with a three percent share at the end of this year's first quarter, right behind Sony Ericsson at 3.1 percent. Moving forward, Motorola hopes to benefit from the rising popularity of the Android mobile operating system, which grew a stunning 707 percent year-on-year during the first quarter in the North American market, where Motorola recorded 66 percent of its mobile-device sales.

Motorola is also hoping to capitalize on the headline-grabbing antenna flaw sowing doubt about Apple's iPhone 4. A new IDC survey indicates that 66 percent of current iPhone owners have decided to put off their purchase of Apple's new smartphone.

Apple is attempting to address the flaw by offering a free case that promises to mitigate connectivity problems even as it contends that rival...