Happy Unofficial Foldable Week! An increasingly rare bright spot in the largely struggling smartphone space, manufacturers are looking to the emerging form factor to help them out of the slump. Following the announcements of Xiaomi and category leader Samsung, Motorola is back this week with the latest version of the revived Razr brand.
The latest version of the product finally steps it up to legitimately flagship specs with the inclusion of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip — much like Xiaomi’s new Galaxy Fold and Flip and Mix Fold 2. And also, like the new Xiaomi, the 2022 Motorola Razr comes with a big catch: it’s only for China. At least for now.
The device was announced at an event in parent company Lenovo’s home country alongside the new Moto X30 Pro and S30 Pro. Given the strength of the brand in other markets such as Brazil and, surprisingly, the US, it would be strange to keep this thing only for China. However, for now, wider availability is very specific.
Image credits: Motorola
Here’s what we know: The Razr features a foldable 6.7-inch Full HD+ plus display with an impressive 144Hz refresh rate. In addition to the new Qualcomm chip, it has 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage by default, combined with 3500 mAh (because, foldable). There’s a pair of rear cameras with a primary 50-megapixel sensor and an additional 13-megapixel ultrawide with macro functionality (a longtime Motorola favorite). The front-facing 32-megapixel camera, meanwhile, sits behind a punch hole in the main display.
Really solid specs all around. Seemingly gone are the days when the Razr was a mid-range device encased in a foldable body. Some of those earlier sacrifices were made in the name of keeping prices down, but at least in China, this thing is pretty reasonably priced by inflated folding standards, starting at RMB 5,999 (~$890). We’ll see how much of this holds up if/when this thing comes to the US. If you’re in China, you can pick it up as soon as August 15th.
Image credits: Motorola
It’s suddenly a good time to get excited about foldables. Motorola followed Samsung with its own rocky start in the category. The original foldable Razr was a promising idea that failed to live up to expectations in many meaningful ways. Foldables are a long way from rocketing to the top of the smartphone charts, but Samsung proved that there are plenty of consumers interested in these things by shipping ~10 million last year.
It also inadvertently demonstrated that the Flip form factor is the favorite, with around 70% of users polled saying they prefer it over the Fold. This is certainly good news for Motorola’s foldable ambitions.
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