Motorola could be reviving the Moto Razr
Teaser video hints at classic flip phone's return
Motorola may be planning to bring back the Moto Razr flip phone, a teaser video has hinted.
The video, uploaded to YouTube by the Lenovo-owned company, harks back to the Razr's golden age in the early 2000s and focuses on various teenagers using the devices over a pop-punk soundtrack.
The video's caption reads "flip back to the Razr days of yesteryear and get ready for the future", and links to a sign-up page for information about an event of 9 June. This indicates that the Razr could be due for a revival.
Since the rise of the iPhone, the mobile market has been dominated by the slate, with almost all devices arriving as flat, glass slabs. Alternative form factors are making a comeback, however.
Last year, BlackBerry released the Priv - the company's first slider phone in years - to overwhelmingly positive reviews, with many praising the phone's marriage of old-school mechanics and modern technology.
So could the flip phone be due for a similar resurgence? The principal problem would be the screen. Many modern apps demand a larger screen size, while a flip phone would be restricted by the size the front lid.
There's also the question of whether or not the manufacturer would be able to fit all the components needed by a modern high-end smartphone into a flip phone's diminutive casing.
Get the ITPro. daily newsletter
Receive our latest news, industry updates, featured resources and more. Sign up today to receive our FREE report on AI cyber crime & security - newly updated for 2024.
A new, old-school Razr would certainly need a radical redesign, but could potentially find itself with a lucrative niche in the nostalgia market, considering that the Razr was THE phone to have in the late 2000s.
Adam Shepherd has been a technology journalist since 2015, covering everything from cloud storage and security, to smartphones and servers. Over the course of his career, he’s seen the spread of 5G, the growing ubiquity of wireless devices, and the start of the connected revolution. He’s also been to more trade shows and technology conferences than he cares to count.
Adam is an avid follower of the latest hardware innovations, and he is never happier than when tinkering with complex network configurations, or exploring a new Linux distro. He was also previously a co-host on the ITPro Podcast, where he was often found ranting about his love of strange gadgets, his disdain for Windows Mobile, and everything in between.
You can find Adam tweeting about enterprise technology (or more often bad jokes) @AdamShepherUK.