Motorola Razr returning to smartphone business with foldable smartphone

Tech giant Lenovo is the current owner of Motorola Mobility and is all set to release a new version of the iconic Razr mobile phone. The new Razr will be similar to what was announced at the Samsung’s developer’s conference and will feature a foldable screen. A patent of the design was filed in May 2017 and had described a clamshell form factor with a flexible screen that can fold inwards.

Similar to the Samsung phone it is expected to cost at least $1,500. Reports say that two hundred thousand units will be manufactured. The new Razr will be latest in the series of very expensive specialty phone announcements that have been aimed at customers who do not intend to upgrade frequently and also reflects the current reality of the smartphone business.

The Razr series was first introduced in 2004 and the Razr V3 was one of the first handsets that had achieved a pop culture icon and a status-symbol status in a similar way to the iPhone that was released later and the most popular Android handsets. At that time the svelte form factor was notable and the fashion related ,marketing had lead to its widespread success. In the initial run, the V3 sold more than three million units and many other variants were released including the Razr V3i which was one of the first phones that had Apple’s iTunes built in it.

In 2007 the Razr 2 was released but it did not achieve the same success as its predecessors did. In 2011 an Android smartphone was introduced known as the Motorola Droid Razr and it had fared well in the market but it did not closely resemble the original Razr. Later Apple had disrupted Motorola’s space in the smartphone market and the company was eventually acquired by Google and then again by Lenovo. There are also reports that Lenovo will partner with Verizon to release a new iteration of the Razr in 2019.

Photo Credits: T3