Motorola holds 50% of the US foldable market ahead of Razr Fold launch, IDC says

In addition to another clamshell entry in its ongoing Razr series, Motorola is teeing up for an expansion into book-style foldables later this year. Ahead of that launch, new reporting suggests Motorola is absolutely crushing it in the folding phone market, especially in the US and Latin America.

Two IDC representatives, Francisco Jeronimo and Nabila Popal, went hands-on with the Razr Fold at MWC last week, as seen in a newly-published video. Within that video, Jeronimo and Popal share some of their takeaways with the device, alongside some pretty shocking statistics. According to the IDC, Motorola holds about 50% of the foldable market in the US purely on the strengths of its Razr lineup, trumping both Samsung — which offers a variety of foldable devices — and Google, which has stuck to book-style foldables.

The good news for Motorola doesn’t stop in the US. According to this report, the company holds 55% of this category in Latin America, while coming in around 13% in Europe. This all adds up to about 14% of total global foldable market share, which — not to damn with faint praise — is particularly shocking considering the reach that some of its competitors have. While this clip from Jeronimo doesn’t dive into every possible reason as to why Moto might be outperforming the competition, a choice of fun and creative colors alongside several budget-friendly (and good!) models might be two of its most important factors.

Of course, Motorola does have a couple of storm clouds hanging over the horizon. The threat of Apple’s eventual folding iPhone appears to be shaping responses from the entire industry, including Samsung and Honor, and it’s something that could eventually eat away at Motorola’s market share. Likewise, the Razr Fold is missing out on both of the strengths that benefit the brand’s current Razr lineup: fun colors and affordable pricing. As confirmed with last week’s specs dump, the Razr Fold only comes in two fairly generic shades — the carbon fiber-decked “Blackened Blue,” alongside “Lilly White” — and sports an eye-watering €1,999 (~$2,312) price tag.