Nokia's comeback under the guidance of HMD Global has been a remarkable journey as people are once again trusting the decades-old brand for their new smartphone choices. But not all brands can make a successful comeback, but nothing is stopping them from trying. Motorola is going for the win once again as it plans to try the Nokia way to win people's hearts.
According to a WSJ report, Motorola is reviving the years-old Moto Razr series by giving it a modern twist, which isn't going to be subtle like we've seen in Nokia phones. The good-old Razr flip phones will undergo a massive makeover as Motorola wants to use the series for its upcoming foldable smartphone.
While the idea of turning a flip phone into a foldable one doesn't seem too bad, there won't be any nostalgia factor besides the Razr name that the phone would carry. If the latest report is to be believed, Moto Razr 2019 will be priced at a whopping $1,500, which doesn't sound much considering foldable phones are expected to be priced up to $2,000 until foldable phones become more common and eventually retail at lower costs.
There's no word on when the Moto Razr 2019 would officially be launched, but the report states that it will be exclusively available in the U.S. via Verizon. Another report from The Verge suggested that the Lenovo-owned smartphone brand will bring the new Razr phone in limited quantities, with only 200,000 units up for grabs.
Finally, the Moto Razr 2019 phone will be powered by Android, which is a logical move considering all other mobile operating systems except iOS and Android have either phased out or no longer acceptable by consumers. The company cannot go wrong with stock Android, especially now that Google offers native support for foldable screens in Android.
As for the design of the foldable Razr phone, leaked patent sketches from last year showed a tall foldable touch display with a hinge in the middle. The phone can be folded into half so it can be slipped into the pocket easily, but don't expect to use it in the folded mode as it's a classic clamshell design with a camera at the back. At least that's what the patents suggest.
Now, Motorola might be putting foldable display technology to good use here, but it doesn't align with what we've seen from rival brands like Samsung, which is expected to launch its first foldable smartphone that turns into a phablet next month. At CES 2019, Royale FlexPai was demonstrated to show what a foldable smartphone looks like in action and many other companies, including Huawei, LG, Oppo and others could follow the suit soon enough.
As much as we wish people could look forward to this revamped Moto Razr 2019, the high price tag, limited availability and other unknown challenges could make it tougher for Motorola to impress the masses. We love the iconic Moto Razr series and its design at the time was top of its class. We simply hope Motorola uses this nostalgia-heavy series in the best way possible.
