A patent now allegedly reveals what looks to be the proposed design for a Motorola Razr for the new generation. Unsurprisingly, it's the same old foldable form factor, but with the iconic metallic keypad removed — in place of it an actual foldable display.
The registration, filed into the World Intellectual Property Organisation, provides the first-ever look at this new Motorola Razr, which was recently announced to be heading back in some form because, well — nostalgia.
The design was filed back in Dec. 17, 2018 and was first spotted by publication 91mobiles. On the outside, the phone seems to sport the well-known Motorola Razr flip-phone design, complete with a smaller screen. Inside, however, is where things get interesting. Instead of the metallic keypad probably every smartphone nut knows by now, the interior now features a tall display that ostensibly folds in half.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to reveal that Lenovo, the company that owns Motorola, wants to relaunch the Motorola Razr as a foldable smartphone for a whopping $1,500.
Motorola Razr Patent
To be clear, the "Razr" name isn't mentioned in the registration, but the design is unmistakable regardless of which angle one looks at it. The thick chin is there, for one. Plus the flip design. All it needs is a Razr logo, really. The big change, of course, is the folding screen inside, which matches The Wall Street Journal's description of the upcoming phone's appearance.
The Comeback
"Flashback" phones have been popularized in recent years thanks to HMD, the company that now owns the Nokia brand. When it re-released the iconic 3310 in 2017 as a feature phone, it triggered, perhaps, other companies with similarly iconic handsets to make plans for a timely refresh.
Luckily for consumers, Lenovo says it's taking such efforts seriously. Rather than put on rose-colored glasses and rely purely on nostalgia, Razr V3's co-designer Paul Pierce said, when rumors about a Razr remake were just starting to come out, that the phone "can't be done just for a gimmick or something of that nature. We've got to figure out how to deliver a breakthrough."
Obviously, a foldable screen is exactly what one would call a "breakthrough" in smartphone design these days. Samsung is expected to fully reveal its foldable Galaxy phone at some point this year, which could certainly put foldable screens in popular dialogue. Samsung's phone folds sideways, however, whereas the Razr unfolds upward to reveal a traditionally sized screen, which means it can still utilize a vertical user interface practically everyone is already used to.
That said, things always change during development, and the patent may turn out to be accurate, after all. Time, as always, will tell.
