The battle for a share of the Android smartphone market has become very interesting especially after it was revealed that Motorola with their old Razr outsold Samsung’s much praised Flip 6 device ahead of the roll out of their latest Flip 7 device.

Back in the first half of 2025 Samsung carriers and retailers were starting to discount out their Flip devices ahead of the roll out of new devices from both Samsung and Motorola.
A week ago, when I questioned senior Samsung management about their market share in the premium Flip and Fold markets, they refused point blank to talk numbers or market share despite overseas subsidiaries talking up market share.

Now IDC has let the cat out of the bag with their latest research revealing that in the first quarter of 2025 Motorola sold 8,000 of their old Razr Flip devices with Samsung only managing to sell 4,000 units.

Back in May we questioned Motorola as to why they had not launched their new Razr 60 that was already widely available overseas, no real answers were given.

Now we know why.

It appears that Motorola which is owned by Lenovo has developed a very clever slipstreaming program where days out from the launch of a new Samsung competitor they announce a new Motorola product.

Very clever indeed because unlike Samsung Motorola who is now the #3 smartphone brand in Australia Motorola has been able to slip into the hype surrounding the launch of the all new Samsung Z Flip 7.

Instead of wearing the cost of flying journalist to New York for yet another Samsung all expenses Unfold event, Motorola simply sent out a press release a week ahead of the Samsung roll out announcing their new offering.

It did work with media picking up those days out from the roll out of a new device Motorola also had an all new competitor to the much hyped Samsung offering.

Finder claimed that the new Motorola Razr 60 took most of its design cues from the Galaxy Flip range, including a miniature external screen, dual rear cameras and a vertically folding clamshell layout.
What they failed to mention that Motorola was doing Flip phones when Samsung was still trying to work out how to get into the smartphone market.

Days out from the roll out of the wafer thin Samsung S25 Edge Motorola rolled out their Edge competitor with the launch of the new Motorola Edge 60 Fusion.
Unlike Samsung there was no press briefing for the Motorola devices which appear to be getting a lot of PR exposure instream they let the brand, and their product do the talking.

To “slipstream” a popular brand with low-cost marketing, Motorola has been able to focus on leveraging their existing popularity to gain visibility and traction without the high costs associated with a Samsung or Apple launch.

This is not some new brand, it’s an old established brand that use to be #1 in the Australian smartphone market, but after losing their way and management who had an obsession for the cheap end of the market it took a new team three years ago to start turning their fortunes around.

What Motorola has done to get to #3 in the market is carefully choose their strategic partnerships such as Pantone which allows them to take a strong position when it comes to colour.

They are also engaging with their audience on social media platforms and via select media.

They know that by strategically leveraging the popularity of a well-known brand and implementing effective low-cost marketing tactics, they have been able to increase Motorola’s brand’s visibility, attract a wider audience, and ultimately drive sales.

As for their latest offering JB Hi Fi has the Motorola Razr 60 listed at $1,199 with 256Mb of on board memory.

Samsung’s new Galaxy Flip 7 is listed at $1,499 also with 256Mb of memory.