Motorola is making a foldable phone that will be out this summer and there's a lot of reason to be excited about it. The company is rumored to revive its beloved Razr brand which dominated the phone landscape before smartphones were a thing. But the Razr will have to face stiff competition from the Galaxy Fold, which will be available on April 26 and the Huawei Mate X which, will be out sometime this summer but likely not in the US.
On paper, the Galaxy Fold and Motorola Razr couldn't be more different. Based off patent illustrations, Motorola appears to be taking a more practical approach than Samsung. Instead of a phone opening out into a tablet like the Galaxy Fold, the Razr folds up like a flip phone to be more pocketable. What makes this design "foldable" is that the Razr's is expected to have one single screen that bends in the middle.
The Galaxy Fold display opens and closes like a book. The Razr's screen folds vertically in half like... well, a flip phone. In addition to a larger internal screen that folds in half, both phones should also have a screen on the outside of the device.
Each of these foldable phones costs more than most phones sold today. The Galaxy Fold starts at $1,980 for the 4G model (roughly converting to £1,500 or AU$2,800). Samsung hasn't announced pricing for the 5G model. The Razr is expected to cost $1,500.
Neither phone has been handled by journalists. Despite a confirmation from Motorola that they will launch a foldable phone this summer, the Razr hasn't officially been announced. The Galaxy Fold on the other hand was shown and demoed onstage at a Samsung event in February. But other than a marketing video and seeing the phone behind glass, the Fold remains largely a mystery.
Thanks to the enthusiast site XDA Developers, we have an idea of what the specs for the purported foldable Razr will be. If the specs are right, the foldable Motorola Razr will be much more of a midrange phone with a smaller screen, middle-of-the-road processor, smaller battery and much smaller starting storage.
Samsung envisions the Galaxy Fold as a luxury device. Of course, the new Razr will have one thing one its side that the Fold doesn't: nostalgia. Here's how they stack up against the specs (that we know) of the Galaxy Fold.
|
Samsung Galaxy Fold | Motorola Razr (leaked specs) |
---|---|---|
Display size, resolution | 7.3-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED; 4.6-inch Super AMOLED | 6.6-inch OLED (2,142x876 pixels); NA (800x600 pixels) |
Mobile software | Android 9.0 with Samsung One UI | N/A, but likely Android Pie or Android Q |
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 |
Storage | 512GB | 64GB, 128GB |
RAM | 12GB | 4GB, 6GB |
Battery | 4,380mAh | 2,730mAh |
Camera | 12-megapixel (wide-angle), 16-megapixel (ultra wide-angle), 12-megapixel (telephoto) | N/A |
Front-facing camera | Two 10-megapixel, 8-megapixel 3D depth | N/A |
Price off-contract (USD) | $1,980 | $1,500 |