Motorola revives the Razr as a foldable phone

Motorola has revamped its classic Razr flip phone in the form of an Android smartphone, complete with a 6.2in plastic OLED screen that can fold in half.

The phone also has a smaller, 2.7in display on the outside of the handset, which displays information about incoming calls and messages.

The BBC reports that the new Razr will be sold for $1,500, coming to the US on 26 December, followed by other markets in 2020. Motorola has yet to announce specific details on pricing and availability outside of the US.

When the original Razr was originally released in 2004, in the years before the iPhone, it was pitched as an ultra-thin handset. The phone’s success played a large part in lifting the company’s mobile phone division out of financial stagnancy.

In today’s market, the foldable screen puts the Razr in competition with the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X. Whereas those handsets open into tablet-sized screens, the new Razr instead focuses on keeping things compact, opening into a normal-sized phone screen.

The new Razr is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor, with 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage, and comes loaded with Android 9 Pie. It has a 16MP rear camera as well as a 5MP selfie camera.

Whether the revamped Razr can perform the same trick as its predecessor remains to be seen, but the foldable screen at least brings some novelty to an increasingly identikit smartphone market. There’s also the nostalgia factor to consider. The phone includes a ‘Retro Razr’ mode, which recreates the look of the 2004 classic on the modern 6.2in screen – complete with original UI sounds.