Motorola Digging into the 'Foreign Phone Graveyard' with Cost-Effectiveness

'Moto G32' Passes Radio Research Institute Conformity Certification
5G Device Share Reaches 78% but LTE Demand Remains Steady
3% Market Share Targets Niche in Foreign Phone Market

Moto G32. Photo by Motorola India

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] Motorola appears set to enter the Korean market with a new LTE device in the new year. According to industry sources on the 27th, Motorola Korea's LTE device 'Moto G32' recently passed the conformity certification from the National Radio Research Agency.

The Moto G32 is an LTE device featuring a 6.5-inch LCD display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 680. It is equipped with a triple camera setup including a 50-megapixel camera and a 5000mAh battery. It features dual SIM capability, allowing two phone numbers to be used simultaneously. When launched in India last August, it was sold at a price in the 200,000 KRW range.

Motorola returned to the Korean market this year after 9 years. Since then, it has only released 5G devices such as the Edge 20 Lite, Moto G50, and Edge 30. The reason Motorola, which had only introduced 5G devices in the domestic market, is preparing an LTE device is interpreted as targeting niche demand. According to Counterpoint, Motorola entered the top three in the US market last year with a 10% market share by focusing on mid-to-low priced devices.

According to Korea IDC, the share of 5G devices in the domestic smartphone market reached 77.6% in the first half of this year. However, due to expensive communication fees, there is steady consumer demand for LTE. In particular, the so-called 'honey combination'?purchasing unlocked devices and then subscribing to budget LTE plans?is gaining popularity. This is understood to be targeting such demand amid the rapidly growing budget phone market. When the Edge 30 5G was launched last October, Motorola partnered with Coupang and LG HelloVision.

The Korean market has a large demand for premium smartphones and a strong aversion to Chinese smartphones, earning it the nickname 'graveyard of foreign phones.' Even major brands have repeatedly faced setbacks, and except for Apple, no company has survived. Although it is difficult to compare with the past popularity of 'StarTAC' and 'Razer,' Motorola has been steadily expanding its presence since re-entering Korea. According to Counterpoint, the market share of foreign smartphone brands in Korea, which was only 1% in the first quarter of last year, grew to 2% in the second quarter and 3% in the third quarter of this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.