The new Motorola Razr 5G is a clamshell foldable that fixes flaws from its predecessor, but doesn’t improve everything.
The new Motorola Razr 2020 refines key shortcomings of its predecessor, crucially eliminating the worrisome gap when the phone was folded closed and with a streamlined design to boot. The new Razr (known as the Motorola Razr 5G everywhere apart from in the US) folds flush, and even has a sleeker look thanks to design tweaks shaving down the chin. But is it enough to finally convince consumers to flock to the clamshell foldable? Aside from the design refinements, the phone differs from its predecessor in a few other ways: its Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G chipset enables 5G connectivity, its storage and RAM have improved, the rear camera has been boosted to 48MP, and the external QuickView mini-screen has new photo preview features to show subjects what you’re capturing – or a cartoon face for kids to focus on while you’re photographing them. The battery is even a bit bigger, too. But other parts of the phone are the same, like the 6.2-inch POLED (plastic OLED) display. It’s unclear if the folding parts of the phone have been reinforced given some complaints about the original, but Motorola has made the actual mechanism quieter to ease owner concerns about worryingly noisy folding sounds. Which is to say the Razr 2020 refines on most aspects of the original but doesn’t drastically depart from the Razr 2019’s vision. The company doubled down on its clamshell foldable design and perhaps the refinements – incremental, but multitudinous – might just win over consumers who had concerns about the original model. Update: We’ve finally gotten an official release date, at least in the US: October 2. The Motorola Razr 2020 was announced on September 9,2020, and finally has a release date: October 2 in the US. It’s unclear when the clamshell foldable will be released in other regions. The Razr 2020 comes in three colors: the matte black Polished Graphite, gray-and-black Liquid Mercury, and Blush Gold. The Motorola Razr 2020 price is $1,399 / £1,399 (around AU$1,922), making it slightly cheaper than its predecessor. In the US, it will be available unlocked at Best Buy, B&H Photo, Amazon.com and Motorola.com, and on T-Mobile later this year. It’s available at AT&T on October 2 in the silver-ish Liquid Mercury color, with special offers like $700 off the pricetag for consumers converting their current number to the carrier. In the UK, where the phone is called the Motorola Razr 5G, folks can buy it in one color (Polished Graphite) from O2, Vodafone, Tesco, John Lewis, Amazon, Carphone Warehouse, and on Motorola.
