Is Moto about to repeat history

Despite not having as good as specs as the Galaxy Fold, the Moto Razr was considered by many to be potentially the best folding phone to buy. Scheduled to be available for purchase on December 26th, it looks like the release has been pushed back. And this could not have come at a worse time as it is going to allow for Samsung to regroup after the disappointing turnout for the Galaxy Fold. This is very reminiscent to 2012 when the balance of power shifted from Motorola to Samsung.

Back in 2012, Motorola was still one of the top manufacturers when it came to Android smartphones. Having ridden the wave of the Droid line, people trusted Motorola because of its build quality and radios. After complaints of weaker radios in the Samsung Charge and Galaxy Nexus, there was still a resistance to truly commit to Samsung. But after the success of the Galaxy S3, there was this momentum shift pushing in the direction of Samsung. Despite that, people were excited and waiting for Verizon and Motorola to drop the Droid Razr. In the midst of a dead summer, there was a window in which this phone could have dropped and scored a large number of Verizon customers. Unfortunately, they hesitated and the rest was history. Samsung dropped the Note 2 which had twice the specs, size, and was able to be rooted up against the locked down Droid Razr. And since that point, all the momentum went in favor of Samsung and Samsung hasn’t looked back.

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Here we are now with Motorola having a chance to put their stamp on the folding phone with the anticipated Moto Razr, a phone that is playing on the nostalgia of the popular flip phone released in 2004. Yet instead of getting this phone out as scheduled it is pushed back. And this could again hurt Motorola as there are images of Samsung’s second folding phone that mirrors the design of the upcoming Razr. And if Samsung is able to release its phone around the time of the Razr this could again be devastating for the manufacturer. Unlike the Razr, which will only be exclusive to Verizon, the Samsung version will be available for more carriers and more customers to purchase.