Motorola’s 8-month-old folding flip phone is getting a sequel and it may arrive sooner than you think.
Last week, in a podcast interview, the general manager of Lenovo’s South African division, Thibault Dousson confirmed the second-generation Motorola Razr is due to break cover in September. As per a new report by XDA Developers, it is rumored to feature several under-the-hood upgrades to take on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip.
Codenamed “smith”, the next Motorola Razr’s biggest highlight will reportedly be 5G connectivity. The phone is expected to come equipped with Qualcomm’s latest 5G-enabled, mid-range chipset, the Snapdragon 765. Motorola will also bump up the memory to 8GB from 6GB and offer double the onboard storage (256GB) as before.
Plus, Motorola will address the existing Razr’s endurance complaints with a slightly larger 2,845 battery, about 300mAh more. However, it’s unclear if that would be enough to weather the addition of 5G support.
Another shortcoming the Lenovo-owned phone maker will likely tackle with the new iteration is camera performance. The 16-megapixel shooter found on the current-gen Razr will be replaced by Samsung’s 48-megapixel ISOCELL Bright GM1 sensor. The modest 5-megapixel selfie camera will be upgraded to a 20-megapixel sensor too.
The phone will ship with Android 10 out of the box and come preinstalled with the host of new Quick View display features that are rolling out now to the first-generation Razr. Most importantly, the new update allows users to do a lot more than simply glancing at a handful of quick updates on the second, outer screen. Motorola Razr owners can now respond to texts or follow Google Maps directions without flipping open the phone to access the larger display.
Speaking of displays, it remains to be seen whether Motorola has made any significant improvements to its core folding mechanism itself. The design that powers the current Motorola Razr has been plagued with several issues. Its crease in the middle of the screen gets creaky after a few flips, the screen’s plastic layer began peeling off for many, and more. With Samsung expected to soon introduce more affordable variants of its folding flip phone, the question that matters more, is if Motorola will stick with the $1500 price tag.