Motorola to Unveil Foldable Phone in June
Focus on Apple's Entry Timing into Foldable Market
Following Google, Motorola is also making a full-scale entry into the 'foldable phone' market pioneered by Samsung Electronics.
Foldable phones are smartphones first introduced by Samsung Electronics in February 2019, which have since dominated the market. Samsung Electronics holds an 80% share of the entire market.
On the 17th (local time), Motorola announced through China's official social networking service (SNS) that it will launch a new foldable phone on the 1st of next month.
Known tentatively as the 'Motorola Razr40 Ultra,' this smartphone is expected to be released worldwide. It is anticipated to be introduced to the domestic market around the third quarter of this year.
If the 'Razr40 Ultra' is released in Korea, it will be the first foreign-made foldable phone to be launched domestically. According to the teaser video, the silhouette of the new smartphone is a foldable phone that folds vertically like Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Flip series.
According to local media reports, the external display of Motorola's 'Razr40 Ultra' will feature a large screen of over 3 inches. The price is expected to be around 1,200 euros (approximately 1.74 million KRW) based on 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
It is expected to be first released in major overseas markets such as the U.S. and Europe in early next month, followed by Korea around the time Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold5 and Z Flip5 are on sale. This will mark the first time that foreign brand foldable phones compete in the domestic foldable phone market.
As foreign foldable phones are being released one after another, Samsung Electronics is expected to unveil its new foldable phone about two weeks earlier than usual, at the end of July, and officially launch it around mid-August.
Meanwhile, Google unveiled its foldable phone on the 10th (local time).
At the annual developer conference (I/O) held at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, Google introduced the foldable phone called the 'Pixel Fold.'
Although Chinese companies such as Xiaomi have successively released foldable phones following Samsung Electronics, Google is the first among major big tech companies to do so.
The Pixel Fold measures 5.8 inches (14.7 cm) when folded and 7.6 inches (19.3 cm) when unfolded. The price is $1,799 (about 2.37 million KRW) for the 256GB model, comparable to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold4.
As major smartphone manufacturers release foldable phones, the foldable phone market is expected to expand, drawing attention to the moves of iPhone maker Apple.
Apple is known to have obtained patents for 'folding' devices but has not yet applied them to the iPhone.
The market expects Apple to first apply the 'foldable' method to the iPad.
Guo Mingchi, an Apple analyst at TF Securities, predicted in January that Apple would release a foldable iPad in 2024.
Market research firm CSS Insights also forecasted in a report released last October that Apple is highly likely to launch an iPad with a foldable screen in 2024.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
