It’s been almost two years since Motorola released its foldable Razr phone, but most flip phone fans out there have to wait a little longer. Moto has finally unveiled his Razr Foldable for 2022, but it has only been announced for China and retails at just his RMB 5,999 (around US$900), more than the previous version. Hundreds of dollars cheaper. Not only has the phone gotten a significant price cut, but it’s more powerful than his Razr foldable in the past with the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip and his 144Hz display.
The first thing you’ll notice about the new Razr is its width.very width. At around 80mm wide, it’s even wider than the giant Galaxy S22 Ultra. However, the 2.7-inch external display isn’t big enough to take advantage of the larger footprint. It just has more bezels around it.
Moto has moved beyond the iconic Razr aesthetic with this phone. Gone is the big ‘chin’ at the bottom, leaving us with a device that more closely resembles Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip4. However, it has a more modern look and makes navigation gestures easier to use. When open, the Razr 2022 features his 6.7-inch foldable OLED with minimal wrinkles thanks to Moto’s custom hinge design. It’s also the first foldable display to ship with a 144Hz refresh rate. Motorola has also ditched his notch oversized display from past versions of the device.
On the back is a 50MP camera and a 13MP ultra-wide camera. The camera sits next to the display on the “top” of the Flip, allowing you to take selfies using the external display as a viewfinder. It doesn’t work as well.
The previous foldable Razr ran with the 700-series Snapdragon chip, but the 2022 variant isn’t power-saving. It has the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with 8GB or 12GB of RAM. The price of the 12GB model rises to 7,299 CNY (about $1,085). However, the battery capacity is only 3,300mAh for all you pay, and his current Snapdragon flagship chip is pretty power hungry. More competitive charging speeds might have helped, but the 2022 Razr tops out at 33W.
Motorola is an iconic American company, but is now owned by Lenovo. Several foldable phone makers are completely focused on China, and that’s Lenovo’s home market. So it’s no shock to see availability limited like this. A new Razr is unlikely to arrive in the US without at least one carrier partner, and none of the big three have stepped forward to announce such a deal.
