Motorola, once the most iconic American technology company will test the smartphone waters by launching Razr foldable smartphone at its upcoming launch event on Nov 13th, 2019 If all plans go through.
The possible launch of the foldable Razr phone will depict efforts to build on its original Razr v3 form-factor, which sold 132 million units globally over the span of five years and was one of the most all-time popular mobile phone models globally that period.
Some experts think the possible launch will excite the industry and consumers, believing the outlook of the phone will coincide and leverage the 5G era.
According to Neil Shah, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, Motorola with this upcoming foldable phone will have to be prudent on the design (hinge, display), pricing, positioning, and promotion to even think of a serious comeback.
Firstly, the hinge and display design will be the key to the device’s success from usability, durability and yield perspective. We have already seen the challenges faced by the first-gen foldable phone design from players such as Samsung and Huawei from durability and yield perspective, which will be the first hurdle for any brand to scale in terms of supply with this new form-factor.
Secondly, is the cost. If Motorola, can astutely control the BoM costs and price it well to take this design to mainstream markets, it can quickly scale in terms of demand. Thirdly, positioning with respect to usability, use-cases, and novelty would be the key to differentiate and rebuild the brand equity. Finally, from a promotional perspective, Motorola already has created a significant initial buzz in social media and the fan renders and leaks have certainly helped with initial momentum. However, if Motorola has something unique and iconic up its sleeves marrying it with creative viral marketing learning from Chinese counterparts would not be tough.
Further, partnering with some key app developers to leverage the device’s form-factor well would be important as well. The next step would be to expand presence geographically into more lucrative markets e.g. Japan, UK, Germany, etc.
