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Almost all of the top Android phone manufacturers, including Samsung, Motorola, and Google, have introduced foldable phones. One significant non-Android outlier, though, is Apple. And, according to Motorola, some iPhone owners are switching as a result.
I expected Apple to launch a foldable iPhone as soon as 2024 in my reports last year, but now it’s clear this prediction needs to be revised. I predict Apple may launch its first foldable product in 2025 at the earliest, which may be a foldable iPad or a hybrid of iPad & iPhone. https://t.co/HGIDPFvdar
— éƒæ˜ŽéŒ¤ (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) April 1, 2022
Particularly, 20% of new Razr users for Motorola have come from Apple gadgets. After the release of the Razr of the previous generation, that data point is from 2021.
Before the debut of the Razr Plus, Allison Yi, Motorola’s head of North American product operations, told CNET, “This is definitely the family that we have the most amount of iPhone users switching to us.”
Foldable phones still make up a small portion of the global smartphone market, but the category is expanding swiftly as tech oligopolies look for the next significant advancement in mobile technology. International Data Corporation, a market research group, predicts that global shipments of foldables would climb by more than 50% in 2023 compared to 2022. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series competes with Motorola’s Razr line the most, albeit Samsung hasn’t split out its sales data to determine the exact percentage of iPhone conversion.
With the entry of newcomers like Google and OnePlus, giving Motorola and other early entrants like Samsung more competition, this year is shaping up to be a turning point for foldables. Apple, on the other hand, is still conspicuously lacking in the competition for foldable phones, and that isn’t expected to change anytime soon.
In April 2022, Ming-Chi Kuo, a TF International Securities analyst well renowned for his Apple product forecasts, tweeted that he didn’t anticipate Apple to produce its first foldable device until 2025. According to a survey by Counterpoint Research, at least in the US, there is unquestionably a market for a foldable iPhone. One of the first and most well-known manufacturers of foldable phones, Samsung was mentioned by 46% of the respondents, while Apple was picked by 39% of those polled. 6% of people said Motorola.
The company’s most recent initiatives to do so include the 2023 Razr and the new Razr Plus. The business is hoping that the large cover screen on the $1,000 Razr Plus, which will go on sale on June 23, would set it apart from competitors like the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Later this year, Motorola will also release a less costly Razr variant, which will be less expensive than the Plus model.
Also read : Motorola Razr 2023 edges past Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 in these aspects
But Motorola isn’t fixated on its competitors, whether it’s Samsung’s challenge or eventually the long-rumored iPhone Flip.
“It’s not about what our competition is doing,” Yi said. “It’s more of what the consumer needs are, what consumers are wanting, rather than really focusing on competition.”
