The iconic Motorola RAZR flip-phone is to make a comeback, the Wall Street Journal reports-- specifically as a foldable device bearing a $1500 pricetag, with the launch arriving as early as February 2019.
The WSJ says very little on actual specifications of the device, such as screen size, internals or even form factor. The use of the RAZR name suggests Lenovo-owned Motorola will use the original form factor to perhaps create a super-long vertical folding screen, although it might also just copy Samsung and create a more typical folding device. What the WSJ does know is Lenovo plans to make 200000 units of the device, a perhaps optimistic approach for could ultimately prove to be little more than yet another exercise in overpriced nostalgia overpriced nostalgia.
The grapevine does have some more possible clues on the 2019 RAZR, though. Enter a December 2018 patent filed by Motorola with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). First spotted by 91Mobile, it describes a device reminiscent of the 2004 RAZR V3 flip-phone. As such, it has a long display with a hinge in the middle, together with a cutout at the top housing the earpiece and a "chin" at the bottom for the mic and speakers. Like the RAZR V3 it also has a small secondary display on the upper half of the back panel, together with the camera and what looks like a fingerprint sensor.
Will Motorola manage to strike gold in both foldable and nostalgic smartphones? Guess we will know once the RAZR remake hits the market.
Go Return of the RAZR (WSJ.com, registration required)
Go Motorola RAZR 2019 Foldable Phone's Likely Design Revealed in Patent Filing (91mobiles)
