Motorola
Auto Added by WPeMatico
The revamped Motorola Razr foldable launches October 2, starting at $1,200
Foldable phones have had…quite the journey over the last few years. The second time appears to have been the charm for the Galaxy Fold, with a far more robust design than the first generation. And now Motorola’s hoping for similar luck with a revamped version of the Razr.
The Lenovo -owned brand announced this morning that the latest addition of the phone will officially launch in North America on October 2. And for a limited time, it will be available from select retailers — including Amazon, Best Buy, B&H and its own site — for $1,200. That’s a $200 initial discount for early adopters with faith that Motorola nailed it this time out.
The original version of the handset, launched last year, had everything working in its favor, from an iconic name to the latest in smartphone devices. Ultimately, however, it ran into poor reviews, keeping with a theme of the initial wave of foldables. It was a big letdown for a legitimately exciting device. Here’s what a spokesperson told TechCrunch about this latest model:
We’re confident in our foldable system, which is why we retained much of the same technology from the first iteration of Razr. While evolving Razr’s design to include 5G, we focused on areas to make mechanical refinements, based on direct consumer feedback.
Announced three weeks back, the new device will arrive in the States in a matter of days, sporting 5G connectivity and a lower price than the original (on top of the aforementioned limited time discount). AT&T and T-Mobile will also be carrying the new model.
Powered by WPeMatico
Motorola gives its foldable Razr another go with the addition of a 5G model
Last year’s Motorola Razr reboot should have been a slam-dunk. An iconic name attached to a cutting-edge form factor — what could possible go wrong? A lot, turns out, especially in the world of foldables, where nothing seems to go according to plan. Some questionable design choices gave rise to a poorly reviewed device that continued the trend of foldable stumbles.
This week, however, the reboot is back. And this time, it’s, well, refined. In a blog post announcing the launch of the “New Razr With 5G,” the Lenovo-owned brand is quick to note that, “We’ve heard from consumers that they feel tethered to their devices and want a way to stay connected while still living in the moment.” To put a finer point on it, here’s a quote offered to TechCrunch from a spokesperson:
We’re confident in our foldable system, which is why we retained much of the same technology from the first iteration of Razr. While evolving Razr’s design to include 5G, we focused on areas to make mechanical refinements, based on direct consumer feedback.
In other words, the new Razr is the device that consumer feedback built. Now with 5G. It’s in keeping with the new version of the Galaxy Fold that Samsung recently launched. As many in the industry anticipated, the initial round of foldable devices would bump up against many of the issues commonly attributed to first-generation devices. Here that means an update to things like the hinge, which drew some heat from reviews the first time around.
There’s also an improved camera — another issue with the original. This time out, it’s a quad pixel 48-megapixel sensor with improved low-light shots and faster autofocus. There’s also a 20-megapixel one inside the device. The battery — another pain point on the original — has been upgraded slightly, from 2,510mAh to 2,800mAh. The company says it’s an “all day” battery, though the demands of 5G might have something to say about that. I suspect the demands of thinness really presented a brick wall when it comes to maxing out battery capacity.
The 5G comes courtesy of the Snapdragon 765G processor. That maintains the original’s inclusion of a mid-range processor (710 last time out), but this time Qualcomm has included next-gen wireless in an attempt to speed up adoption. At $1,400, it’s $100 less expensive than the original, but it’s certainly still pricey enough to make a middling processor a definite headscratcher. It’s true you’re paying for the foldable screen here, of course, but at that price, everything really ought to be the latest and greatest.
The new New Razr will be available in the fall.
Powered by WPeMatico
Motorola announces €349 5G phone for Europe, promises a sub-$500 model for US this year
Last year Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 765, promising to usher in an era of low-cost 5G devices. Motorola, naturally, was more than happy to take advantage of the technology. While the company has been flirting with premium devices (with mixed results), budget devices will almost certainly be the company’s bread and butter for the foreseeable future.
Today the Lenovo brand announced the launch of the Moto G 5G. Set for release tomorrow in Europe, the device is most notable for its €349 ($395) starting price, which puts it well below the market average, as 5G continues to be the realm of the flagship for many competitors.
The device has a number of other features on-board worth noting, including a 21:9 6.7-inch display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a quad-camera set up on the rear. That second bit includes a 48-megapixel main camera with quad pixel tech to allow for more light in shots, an ultra-wide lens, a dedicated macro lens for closeups and a depth-sensing camera.
The macro lens is still fairly rare on smartphones, with Motorola really being the one company that has included the tech on multiple models. For most, it’s probably more a nice curiosity, though there are certainly occasions that call for it. Speaking of curiosities, there’s also a dual-selfie camera on the front, which includes a 16-megapixel main and a wide-angle to cram more people into shots.
Honestly, it’s shaping up to be a pretty interesting product, as far as budget handsets go. There’s also a healthy 5,000 mAh battery, which should go a ways toward keeping the phone alive even with the demands of 5G and the 90 Hz display. The base-level version comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and another €50 will get you 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It’s also coming to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in “coming months.”
Meanwhile, Motorola’s also promising to deliver on a sub-$500 5G handset for the North American market at some time in the fall, adding to the Moto 5G Mod for the Z line as a method for accessing the next-gen wireless tech with its devices.
Powered by WPeMatico
Indian smartphone market grew by 4% in Q1, but projected to decline by 10% this year
India has emerged as one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the last decade, reporting growth each quarter even as handset shipments slowed or declined elsewhere globally. But the world’s second largest smartphone is beginning to feel the coronavirus heat, too.
The Indian smartphone market grew by a modest 4% year-over-year in the quarter that ended on March 31, research firm Counterpoint said Friday evening. The shipment grew annually in January and February, when several firms launched their smartphones and unveiled aggressive promotional plans.
But in March the shipment saw a 19% year-over-year dip, the firm said. Counterpoint estimated that the smartphone shipments in India will decline by 10% this year, compared to a 8.9% growth in 2019 and 10% growth in 2018.
The research firm also cautioned that India’s lockdown, ordered last month, has severely slowed down the local smartphone industry and it may take seven to eight months to get back on track. Currently, only select items such as grocery products are permitted to be sold in India.
Prachir Singh, Senior Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said the COVID-19 impact on India was relatively mild until mid-March. “However, economic activities declined as people save money in expectation of an extended period of uncertainty and an almost complete lockdown. Almost all smartphone manufacturing has been suspended. Further, with the social distancing norms, factories will be running at lower capacities even after the lockdown is lifted,” he said.
Overall, 31 million smartphone units shipped in India in Q1 2020. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, which has held the tentpole position in what has become its biggest market globally for more than two years, widened its lead to command 30% of the market.
Vivo’s share grew to 17%, up from 12% during the same period last year. Samsung, which once led the Indian market, now sits at the third spot with 16% market share, down from 24% in Q1 2019. Apple maintained its recent momentum and grew by a strong 78% year-over-year in Q1 this year. It now commands 55% of the premium smartphone segment (handsets priced at $600 or above.).
More than 100 smartphone plants in India assemble or produce about 700,000 to 800,000 handsets a day, some of which are exported outside of the country. But the lockdown has halted the production and could cost the industry more than $3 billion to $4 billion in direct loss this year.
“We often draw parallels between India and China. But in China, their factories have adopted automation at various levels, something that is not the case in India,” said Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, earlier this week.
China, where smartphone sales declined by 38% annually in February this year, has already started to see recovery. Xiaomi said last month that its phone factories were already operating at more than 80% of their capacity. Globally, smartphone shipment declined by 14% in February, according to Counterpoint.
Powered by WPeMatico
As more high-end smartphone makers explore budget devices, Motorola takes a shot at premium
As smartphone sales began to plateau and slow over the past couple of years, many device makers arrived at the same conclusion: people want cheaper phones. It’s clear why companies like Apple and Samsung took the message to heart, as the smartphone market downturn appeared to coincide with the standardization of $1,000 premium devices.
While Motorola is undoubtedly best known for its budget devices these days, the company is using the opportunity to take things in an entirely different direction. The Edge+ finds the company entering true premium territory with the arrival of its first $1,000 device. It’s an even more dramatic move than OnePlus’s recent release of the $899 8 Pro.
A mainstay in the budget and mid-tier, the Motorola name doesn’t exactly conjure images of premium products. The Lenovo-owned smartphone maker’s ventures in pricier models have tended more toward the gimmicky — or, at very least niche — with the warmly received modular Moto Z and the largely panned foldable Razr reboot.
The Edge+ is a more earnest approach to premium. The selling points are the camera, display and 5G — pretty standard fare these days in the world of premium handsets. For the first time in recent memory, Motorola is positioning itself to go head-to-head with the Samsungs and Apples of the world.
Okay, so specs. There’s a 6.7-inch display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 90Hz refresh rate. It’s curved on the sides — similar to what Samsung has been offering for a while now. And like Samsung, the company is using that extra narrow real estate to offer up things like notifications, call alerts, alarms and battery status. Basically stuff to offer a quick view without having to pick up the phones.
There’s a flagship-level Snapdragon 865 inside, coupled with a healthy 12GB of memory. Oh, and there’s 5G here, too, with access to both mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. The company is also touting the quality of its speakers — one of the most overlooked aspects of smartphone hardware. I haven’t actually tried them out — or seen the phone in person yet. Social distancing and all that.
There are three rear-facing cameras, including a massive 108-megapixel main, which lets in a lot of light, an eight-megapixel telephoto and 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle. There’s no devoted macro camera, unlike other recent Motorola models, but the 16-megapixel should be able to do some close-up shots.
The Edge+ arrives May 14 as a Verizon exclusive (something Motorola has, unfortunately, done many times before) in the States and on a bunch more carriers in Canada. It will arrive in Europe in May, and other markets, including India and Latin America, at a latter date.
A lower-tiered Edge will be available with a downgraded processor and camera array, but the same display. That’s coming to Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, with U.S. availability arriving later.
Powered by WPeMatico
One year later, the future of foldables remains uncertain
Yesterday, Samsung announced that the Galaxy Flip Z sold out online. What, precisely, that means, is hard to say, of course, without specific numbers from the company. But it’s probably enough to make the company bullish about its latest wade into the foldable waters, in the wake of last year’s Fold — let’s just say “troubles.”
Response to the device has been positive. I wrote mostly nice things about the Flip, with the caveat that the company only loaned out the product for 24 hours (I won’t complain here about heading into the city on a Saturday in 20-degree weather to return the device. I’m mostly not that petty).
Heck, the product even scored a (slightly) better score on iFixit’s repairability meter than the Razr. Keep in mind, it got a 2/10 to Motorola’s 1/10 (the lowest score), but in 2020, we’re all taking victories where we can get them.
There’s been some negative coverage mixed in, as well, of course; iFixit noted that the Flip could have some potential long-term dusty problems due to its hinge, writing, “it seems like dust might be this phone’s Kryptonite.” Also, the $1,400 phone’s new, improved folding glass has proven to be vulnerable to fingernails, of all things — a definite downside if you have, you know, fingers.
Reports of cracked screens have also begun to surface, owing, perhaps, to cold weather. It’s still hard to say how widespread these concerns are. Samsung’s saving grace, however, could well be the Razr. First the device made it through a fraction of the folds of Samsung’s first-gen product. Then reviewers and users alike complained of a noisy fold mechanism and build quality that might be…lacking.
A review at Input had some major issues with a screen that appeared to fall apart at the seams (again, perhaps due to cold weather). Motorola went on the defensive, issuing the following statement:
We have full confidence in razr’s display, and do not expect consumers to experience display peeling as a result of normal use. As part of its development process, razr underwent extreme temperature testing. As with any mobile phone, Motorola recommends not storing (e.g., in a car) your phone in temperatures below -4 degrees Fahrenheit and above 140 degrees Fahrenheit. If consumers experience device failure related to weather during normal use, and not as a result of abuse or misuse, it will be covered under our standard warranty.
Consensus among reviews is to wait. The Flip is certainly a strong indication that the category is heading in the right direction. And Samsung is licensing its folding glass technology, which should help competitors get a bit of a jump start and hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls of the first-gen Fold and Razr.
A new survey from PCMag shows that 82% of consumers don’t plan to purchase such a device, with things like snapping hinges, fragile screens and creases populating the list of concerns. Which, honestly, fair enough on all accounts.
The rush to get to market has surely done the category a disservice. Those who consider themselves early adopters are exactly the people who regularly read tech reviews, and widespread issues are likely enough to make many reconsider pulling the trigger on a $1,500-$2,000 device. Even early adopters are thrilled about the idea of beta testing for that much money.
Two steps forward, one step back, perhaps? Let’s check back in a generation or two from now and talk.
Powered by WPeMatico
Attempt to fold Motorola’s Razr 100,000 times doesn’t go great
The Galaxy Fold felt like an omen for a burgeoning category. The fascinating and promising product was plagued by broken review units that forced Samsung to go back to the drawing board with a reinforced model. But even that version ultimately ran into issues, as I can personally attest.
No doubt other companies readying their own devices took the opportunity to reconsider their strategy. Huawei, for one, very publicly noted that it would push back the release of the promising Mate X, just to be on the safe side. Perhaps it was the compelling form factor coupled with an assumed abundance of caution, but many no doubt expected the Razr’s arrival to be different.
Like clockwork, CNET was on the scene for the Razr’s arrival with the same folding machine it used to stress test the Galaxy Fold. While that device made it a bit over 100,000 folds, The Motorola Razr fell significantly short in testing this week. The original headline “Motorola Razr fails to reach 100,000 folds in our test” doesn’t quite capture how short the device fell. The hinge started going wonky in a little over 27,000 folds. That’s just under four hours into the video — a pretty big gulf compared to the 14-hour marathon for the Fold.
Certainly one test shouldn’t be regarded as the end-all, be-all. The truth is, however, that in spite of the product currently being available for sale, there aren’t many review units out there. Of course, that seems reason enough to approach with caution, as it would with any first-gen product and new form factor. Those who did purchase the foldable have already taken to Twitter to complain about a loud hinge sound. Again, not a deal breaker, perhaps, but also not great.
This is the sound of the hinge on the Razr folding. It doesn’t sound good. The hinge also feels flimsy and cheap for a $1500 phone. The rep at this store said she was afraid to use it. pic.twitter.com/dCXZNlCF0P
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) February 2, 2020
I suspect the device will come with warnings about treating it with an abundance of caution, similar to the paperwork that started shipping with the Fold. But while the device is more affordable than the Fold, it’s still $1,500 — a big price to pay for something you need to hold with kid gloves. Follow this space to see how things play out in the coming weeks, but after a good deal of excitement following the original unveil, this probably isn’t the kind of press Motorola was banking on.
Meantime, can I interest you in a nice, $300 Moto G?
Powered by WPeMatico
Motorola embraces the stylus life on its budget G series
Motorola’s long been a kind of quiet workhorse on the mobile scene. Aside from the occasional razzle-dazzle of a Moto Z or Razr, the Lenovo subsidiary mostly trades in budget handsets. The G line is probably the best example of the bunch. The devices aren’t flashy and the specs are often a year or two old, but you can’t really argue with the sub-$300 price point.
To its credit, however, the brand does a solid job introducing compelling features into the mix, even while keeping the cost down. This morning, at an event in Chicago, Motorola introduced two new entries into the line: the Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus, which will run $300 and $250, respectively.
The devices are similar in a number of ways, including the addition of a macro lens, borrowed from last year’s Motorola One Macro. It’s a curious addition — one that certainly sets the device apart from a million other multi-camera systems. How handy a macro lens will be on a phone is another question entirely, of course — though the company is convinced that users will appreciate the option.
Certainly it will help mix up the photos they do shoot, moving from your standard shots of people and landscapes to flowers and food, I suppose.
Both products also sport beefy batteries — a longtime and welcome staple of Motorola’s devices. There’s a beefy 4,000 mAh battery on the Stylus and even more massive 5,000 mAh on the Power. Those are listed at 19 and 27 hours, respectively. Less impressive is the Snapdragon 665 processor found on each. It’s a cost-cutting measure, honestly.
There are, after all, trade-offs to keeping budget phones budget — and Qualcomm’s decision to go all in on 5G for the 765 is no doubt going to sting some budget device makers. On the positive side of things, the headphone jack is still clinging on for dear life.
The biggest distinction factor between the two is, of course, in the name. Nearly a decade after Samsung proved that the world (or parts of it, at least) still wanted a stylus, the technology never really went mainstream. Sure, plenty of companies have tried it, but none found anywhere near the success of the S-Pen.
Motorola takes a cautious leap here with the inclusion of a stylus and the Moto Note app (which it tells me has cleared all of the legal hurdles in spite of sounding quite similar to an existing product). Perhaps there’s room for the tech at a far lower price point.
Another feature worth noting (as it were) was also inherited by the Motorola One line. The clever dedicated action camera allows users to shoot wide screen while holding the phone portrait mode. That way you can move the phone around with a single hand while shooting action scenes.
Both devices start shipping this spring.
Powered by WPeMatico
A false start for foldables in 2019
A year from now, this is likely to have all blown over. A year from now, the Samsung Galaxy Fold’s turbulent takeoff may well be a footnote in the largest story of foldables. For now, however, it’s an important caveat that will come up in every conversation about the nascent product category.
How history remembers this particular debacle will depend on a number of different factors, the ultimate success of the category chief among them. If foldables do takeoff, the Galaxy Fold’s very public false start will be remembered as little more than a blip. There’s plenty of reasons to root for this — devices have seemingly hit the upper threshold of product footprint. If the trend toward larger screens continues, it’s going to take a clever form factor like this to accommodate that need.
If foldables are relegated to the dustbin of history, however, the Fold misfire will take much of the heat. It’s clear that a trail of broken units will have little impact on Samsung’s bottom line. Two Galaxy Note 7 recalls were a testament to the hardware giant’s resilience in the public eye, after serving as a rounding error in the company’s bottom line that year. Sending some half-baked models to a handful of reviews wasn’t nearly as major of a mistake, but the category, much like the Fold itself, is in a fragile state.
Powered by WPeMatico
VTEX, an e-commerce platform used by Walmart, raises $140M led by SoftBank’s LatAm fund
E-commerce now accounts for 14% of all retail sales, and its growth has led to a rise in the fortunes of startups that build tools to enable businesses to sell online. In the latest development, a company called VTEX — which originally got its start in Latin America helping companies like Walmart expand their business to new markets with an end-to-end e-commerce service covering things like order and inventory management, front-end customer experience and customer service — has raised $140 million in funding, money it will be using to continue taking its business deeper into more international markets.
The investment is being led by SoftBank, specifically via its Latin American fund, with participation also from Gávea Investimentos and Constellation Asset Management. Previous investors include Riverwood and Naspers; Riverwood continues to be a backer, the company said.
Mariano Gomide, the CEO who co-founded VTEX with Geraldo Thomaz, said the valuation is not being disclosed, but he confirmed that the founders and founding team continue to hold more than 50% of the company. In addition to Walmart, VTEX customers include Levi’s, Sony, L’Oréal and Motorola . Annually, it processes some $2.4 billion in gross merchandise value across some 2,500 stores, growing 43% per year in the last five years.
VTEX is in that category of tech businesses that has been around for some time — it was founded in 1999 — but has largely been able to operate and grow off its own balance sheet. Before now, it had raised less than $13 million, according to PitchBook data.
This is one of the big rounds to come out of the relatively new SoftBank Innovation Fund, an effort dedicated to investing in tech companies focused on Latin America. The fund was announced earlier this year at $2 billion and has since expanded to $5 billion. Other Latin American companies that SoftBank has backed include online delivery business Rappi, lending platform Creditas and property tech startup QuintoAndar.
The common theme among many SoftBank investments is a focus on e-commerce in its many forms (whether that’s transactions for loans or to get a pizza delivered), and VTEX is positioned as a platform player that enables a lot of that to happen in the wider marketplace, providing not just the tools to build a front end, but to manage the inventory, ordering and customer relations at the back end.
“VTEX has three attributes that we believe will fuel the company’s success: a strong team culture, a best-in-class product and entrepreneurs with profitability mindset,” said Paulo Passoni, managing investment partner at SoftBank’s Latin America fund, in a statement. “Brands and retailers want reliability and the ability to test their own innovations. VTEX offers both, filling a gap in the market. With VTEX, companies get access to a proven, cloud-native platform with the flexibility to test add-ons in the same data layer.”
Although VTEX has been expanding into markets like the U.S. (where it acquired UniteU earlier this year), the company still makes some 80% of its revenues annually in Latin America, Gomide said in an interview.
There, it has been a key partner to retailers and brands interested in expanding into the region, providing integrations to localise storefronts, a platform to help brands manage customer and marketplace relations, and analytics, competing against the likes of SAP, Oracle, Adobe and Salesforce (but not, he said in answer to my question, Commercetools, which builds Shopify -style API tools for mid and large-sized enterprises and itself raised $145 million last month).
E-commerce, as we’ve pointed out, is a business of economies of scale. Case in point: While VTEX processes some $2.5 billion in transactions annually, it makes a relatively small return on that — $69 million, to be exact. This, plus the benefit of analytics on a wider set of big data (another economy of scale play), are two of the big reasons VTEX is now doubling down on growth in newer markets like Europe and North America. The company now has 122 integrations with localised payment methods.
“At the end of the day, e-commerce software is a combination of knowledge. If you don’t have access to thousands of global cases you can’t imbue the software with knowledge,” Gomide said. “Companies that have been focused on one specific region are now realising that trade is a global thing. China has proven that, so a lot of companies are now coming to us because their existing providers of e-commerce tools can’t ‘do international.’ ” There are very few companies that can serve that global approach and that is why we are betting on being a global commerce platform, not just one focused on Latin America.”
Powered by WPeMatico