Motorola has another foldable phone up its sleeve, and it’s not just an iterative upgrade. If the leaks and teases are accurate, it’ll try to steal the limelight from Samsung this year. Say hello to the Razr 2022, the upcoming clamshell foldable from Motorola.
The teasers are already all over the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, and a healthy number of leaks detailing its innards have also surfaced online. The anticipation is high, and from what we have already seen, the third time just might be the golden charm for Motorola’s foldable phone ambitions. Here’s everything we know so far about the Motorola Razr 2022.
Design and display
The first two Motorola Razr foldable phones clung too tightly to the nostalgia factor, with an elevated chin at the bottom that was lifted straight from the classic Razr clamshell phones of the past. Motorola did put a fingerprint sensor on the chin and also used it as a clever contraption to slide in a portion of the flexible screen, but it was still a divisive design.
In 2022, the chin is going away. A Lenovo executive has already showcased the phone on stage, revealing a design without any chin and symmetrical bezels at the top and bottom. Plus, there is no camera notch for the selfie camera at the top.
Motorola is also improving the folding design by making the teardrop-shaped hinge’s inner radius of 3.3mm. It will allow the device to be in half-open position or act as a tripod for your selfies. Motorola has teased several use cases like watching a video on the top half while chatting on the lower half and other multitasking stuff.
While the design makeover is clean, Motorola is still retaining some of the classic Razr design by making the top and bottom edges ever so slightly curved. The outer cover display, which is already noticeably bigger and significantly more functional than Samsung’s Galaxy Galaxy Z Flip 3, is also adding a few millimeters to itself on the Razr 2022.
The inner foldable panel is a 6.7-inch pOLED screen offering a 144Hz refresh rate, while the cover display is reportedly a 3-inch unit, which will get nine different widgets for at-a-glance info. The display will have support for DC dimming and a 10-bit panel with HDR10+ support. It will be one of the few smartphones in the market to sport an OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate.
Another notable change is the dual-lens rear camera setup, but there is no word if more color options will be on the table this year aside from the usual black trim.
Processor
Motorola has already confirmed that the Moto Razr 2022 will come armed with Qualcomm’s top-tier Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC on August 11. It will be launching a day later than the Galaxy Z Flip 4, which is launching on August 10 with likely the same chip.
While the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 might not offer a major performance leap over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, it is a huge jump for Motorola. So far, the Motorola Razr foldable phones have relied on mid-range chips such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, which makes the Motorola Razr 2022 a massive update for the lineup. It could come in three memory options of 8/128GB, 8/256GB, and 12/512GB.
But there is more to the picture here than just the added raw performance. A flagship-grade chip also unlocks new capabilities for the camera and ensures that it stays at the top of the priority list when it comes to rolling out software updates in the long run.
Cameras
In addition to a weak chip, another chink in the Motorola Razr’s armor has been the camera output. Motorola has remained loyal to a single rear camera formula for all its foldable phones so far. And even though the 48-megapixel camera on the Razr 5G delivered solid results, it was just not enough for the original asking price of nearly $1,400 – both in terms of raw quality and lens versatility.
Catch a brief glimpse of Moto Razr 2022 in this quirky Motorola teaser video. pic.twitter.com/EltqqF9SRb
— Nadeemonics (@nsnadeemsarwar) July 26, 2022
Thankfully, Motorola is making positive strides in that department as well. According to the latest teasers shared by the company, the Razr 2022 will have a 1/1.55-inch 50MP primary camera with OIS. It will support 4-in-1 pixel binning, so you can expect to get 12.5MP images. It will be accompanied by a 13MP ultrawide camera with a 121-degree field-of-view and support for macro shooting. On the front, you’ll get a 32MP sensor.
The overall camera setup might not be as powerful as the main snapper, but if phones like the iPhone 13, Galaxy S22, and Pixel 6 are anything to go by, that is enough pixels to deliver some impressive photos.
Battery
Battery life is often a struggle for folding smartphones — and this has been especially true for previous Razr foldables. Thankfully, the Razr 2022 is making some progress to address this. Motorola confirmed on Weibo that the Razr 2022 will have a 3,500 mAh battery capacity.
While that’s relatively small compared to non-folding phones, it is larger than the 3,300 mAh battery in the Z Flip 3 and the 2,800 mAh battery used in the Razr 5G. Combined with the improved power efficiency of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the Razr 2022 should be fairly competent in this department.
Price and availability
Coming to the pricing, it looks like Motorola will be aggressive this time around. According to a CompareDial report that cites leaker @OnLeaks, the Motorola Razr 2022 will reportedly start at 1,149 euros, which is quite a healthy cut from the 1,399 euro asking price of its predecessor.
Official teaser for the next-gen Motorola RAZR foldable phone. pic.twitter.com/bhchRD7A7B
— Nadeemonics (@nsnadeemsarwar) July 13, 2022
Considering the current euro to U.S. dollar conversion rates, the Razr 2022 might just hit the shelves with a $1,150 asking price in tow. That’s a healthy generation-over-generation price cut and puts it in the same league as Samsung’s own Galaxy Z Flip series phones.
So far, Motorola has only shared plans to launch the Razr 2022 in China. It was supposed to be unveiled on August 2, but Motorola ended up breaking expectations. The brand’s General Manager, Chen Jin, took to Weibo to announce that the launch event had been canceled at the last minute “for some reason.” He added, “we still sincerely hope to bring the new moto products to everyone, and still be the moto that Chinese users like.”
The official Motorola account on Weibo also apologized by posting: “We are deeply sorry for this. Thank you for your enthusiastic support for the new product of moto. For information about the new product, you can continue to pay attention to the official moto information platform.”
Whatever happened with the botched August 2 event, Motorola is getting back on track. At 2:00 pm local time in China on August 2 (2:00 am ET), Motorola is prepping another event to give the Razr 2022 its full unveiling.
Given the availability pattern of previous Motorola-branded foldable phones, it will likely make its way to more markets beyond China, including the U. S.
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