- Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing hinted at MWC 2018 that the Motorola Razr series could make a comeback.
- The devices may feature a foldable display, suggested Yang.
- The comments follow a similar statement the CEO made at MWC 2017.
Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing has hinted that the Motorola Razr series could make a comeback. Yang made the comments during an interview at the MWC 2018 trade show in Barcelona (via TechRadar) following a similar statement made at MWC 2017.
“With the new technology, particularly foldable screens, I think you will see more and more innovation on our smartphone design,” Yang said.
“So hopefully what you just described [the Motorola Razr brand] will be developed or realized very soon.”
Yang was responding to questions regarding a potential return for the Motorola Razr design. Lenovo has owned Motorola since 2014.
The Motorola Razr is a fondly remember clamshell (flip) phone series that became popular in the mid-2000s. The V3 model (similar to the V3i picture above) is one of the biggest selling clamshell phones of all time with 130 million sales. The rise of touchscreen devices towards the end of the decade contributed to the line’s eventual demise.
The Razr lineup was the subject of a Lenovo promo video released in 2016 (above) too, so this may be turning into a “Half-Life 3”-type scenario. However, Lenovo may have more reason to pursue the Razr now than it did a year ago.
HMD Global, which stormed to the number six smartphone vendor post after just one year in the market (ahead of Lenovo), has rebooted the classic Nokia 8110 and Nokia 3310 in the past twelve months. Though we don’t know what their sales look like, it seems to have helped the company from a marketing perspective—the devices have received plenty of media coverage that similar (probably better) feature phones have not, all thanks to their history.
The upcoming launch of foldable smartphones could make a Razr brand revival an even more tantalizing prospect, as it complements the original lineup’s core design. Imagine a new Razr with premium specs and foldable touchscreen display? Sounds all right to me.
Where do you stand on the prospect of a Motorola Razr revival? Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts.
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