The Moto Razr has a new release date. After announcing a delay just a few days before it was planned to go on sale in December, Verizon now says the new-school flip phone will go up for pre-order January 26, with an in-store date of February 6. It’s still $1,499.99.
The new Moto Razr quickly became one of the most interesting upcoming devices when it was unveiled in November. It has a nostalgic flip phone design with a folding, flexible OLED display, a trick hinge mechanism that won’t crease the display, and even a mode that replicates the old Razr UI. Just six days before the December 26 pre-order date, Motorola pumped the brakes on its smartphone project, saying it needed to “adjust Razr’s presale and launch timing to better meet consumer demand.”
Several companies have released foldable smartphones now, but so far, every foldable device has seen significant delays and a limited release. The new flexible display technology is impressive, but it comes with a host of issues related to durability. First, folding glass is not a thing yet (though Corning is working on it) so these displays are all covered in a scratchable, pierceable plastic. Second, folding an OLED display in half puts stress on it, and it’s unclear how much folding and unfolding these displays can take without failing. Finally, these devices need hinges that are bigger and stronger than anything that was fitted to a flip phone in the past, and that introduces a host of moving parts. Balancing all of these issues, working out the details of a new form factor, and doing this all for a reasonable price has proven difficult for the entire industry so far.
The poster child for how bad things can go is the Samsung Galaxy Fold, which was released to device reviewers, recalled after multiple units promptly failed, and then delayed for five months. Samsung’s CEO called the whole disaster “embarrassing.”
The Razr is exclusive to Verizon in the US, and so far international sales dates have not been announced. For $1,500 you might expect to be getting a high-end smartphone, but this is actually a mid-range phone—most of that money is going toward the display and hinge mechanism. For an SoC, you get a Snapdragon 710, a mid-range 10nm chip that was originally introduced in 2018. There’s 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and it ships with the aging Android 9. The split-body design and hinge mechanism means there isn’t a lot of room for a battery, so the Razr comes with an alarmingly small 2510mAh of power, split between two batteries in the top and bottom halves.
Back when the Razr was first announced, it was the only new-school flexible display flip phone, but now Samsung has muscled in on Moto’s territory and is building its own flip phone, rumored to be called the Galaxy Z Flip. The Z Flip should be announced February 11 with the Galaxy S20, just a few days after the Razr hits stores.
