The foldable phone era has had a rough start. So, when rumours started swirling that Moto was going to revive the Razr and give it a bendy display, it seemed like a dicey proposition at best. But just recently, a purported leaked image of said Razr reboot hit the net, and some of those fears were quickly quieted because at least from this one image, the new Razr looks real slick.
The leaked pic, which was first discovered by SlashLeaks, shows a phone that looks like a very faithful recreation of the wildly popular flip phone from the early 2000s, except that instead of having a display up top and a T9 keypad down below, the inside of the new Razr has been updated with a new flexible display that spans the entire length of the phone.
It appears Moto has even kept the Razr’s somewhat bulky but distinctive chin, which actually looks slightly thicker than what you’d find on an original Razr. Meanwhile, at the top of the display, there’s a new notched cutout for the new Razr’s earpiece. However, there doesn’t appear to be a selfie cam on the inside of the phone, or at least not one that’s immediately identifiable, which would certainly be a bold choice.
Based on what we’ve heard in the runup to the new Razr’s release, there’s a good chance that this is what the final product will look like. Motorola did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment.
The dimensions of the rebooted Razr’s inside screen also looks to strike a good balance between foldability and size, with the phone maintaining something close to a traditional 18:9 or possibly 21:9 aspect ratio. This could make the new Razr less awkward to use than other bendy phones like the Galaxy Fold which sports a 4.2:3 aspect ratio display, and the Huawei Mate X, which sports an even squarer 8:7.1 aspect ratio.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about the leaked Razr pic considering the troubles that Samsung has had with the Galaxy Fold, is the hinge in the middle of the phone that looks substantially thinner than anything we’ve seen on a foldable phone so far.
Not only is there a lot of concern regarding the durability of foldable phones, the biggest worry for the Razr is that if it has a gap like you get on the Galaxy Fold, it could take away from the phone’s slim and seemingly quite pocketable dimensions. That said, as demonstrated by a tech demo released by Sharp earlier this month, with some clever shrouding, it may be possible to at least hide the gap to create a sleeker, more streamlined design.
That’s because unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold or Huawei Mate X, the updated Razr isn’t really trying to be a device that offers users an extra large display. Instead, it’s going the other direction by offering something that’s significantly smaller and more portable than the glass brick-style handsets we have today, but can be unfolded to offer something with a “normal-sized” screen.
The other important feature this leaked image doesn’t show is if the new Razr has a screen on the outside of the phone, as the original did. Though, based on how similar the design for the rebooted Razr is compared to the original, that seems like a pretty safe bet.
However, with previous rumours saying that Moto’s Razr reboot could cost around $US1,500 ($2,126), that’s a lot to ask for increased pocketability. But based only what we’ve seen from this leaked pic, if (and that’s a big if) Moto can make a foldable Razr that looks like this and works as advertised, even with an expensive price tag, there’s bound to be a handful of people interested in a reimagined flip phone upgraded with the best tech from 2019.