Motorola could be about to drop a bomb on the flip smartphone market, as rumours suggest that the company is ready to reveal not just one, but two new Razr foldables – and one could have a pretty radical redesign.
Here’s all we know so far about the Motorola Razr 2023 – believed to be called the Razr 40 – and the rumoured Razr 40 Ultra too.
When will the Motorola Razr 2023 be released?
Motorola has now officially teased a Razr launch event on 1 June, releasing a teaser on Twitter that shows two foldable silhouettes, seemingly confirming speculation that a pair of Razr models is on the way.
Note that this was shared by the global Motorola Twitter account, suggesting that this should be an international launch, rather than China-only. Whether that will include the US or not remains to be seen though.
The previous iteration of flip phone, the Motorola Razr (2022), was released in China in August 2022, but didn’t arrive in the UK until December and never made it to the US at all.
How much will the new Razr 40 cost?
No official price has been announced at the time of writing, but leaks have begun to hint at the pricing we can expect for the two models.
First up, SamInsider has reported that the regular model – most likely to be called the Razr 40 – will start from €899 (around $975/£780), for a version including 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage.
The same site has previously reported that the Razr 40 Ultra will clock in at a much steeper €1,200 (around $1,300/£1,045) price point for the same RAM and storage.
Those prices essentially make the regular model a close competitor to the Oppo Find N2 Flip, while the Ultra actually runs even more expensive than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4.
For reference, here’s how much the two previous models cost in the UK and US:
- Motorola Razr (2022) – £949 (approx. $1149)
- Motorola Razr 5G – £1,399/$1,399
What features will we see in the Motorola Razr 40?
From what we’ve seen there will be two quite distinct phones in the Razr 40 series, so let’s take them one by one.
Before that, on the name: early rumours pointed to names like Razr 2023, Razr Lite, Razr+, and more, but all of the latest leaks have settled on Razr 40 and Razr 40 Ultra, so we’ll go with those for now.
Razr 40
The regular Razr 40 is strangely the phone we know less about of the two, with most of our information coming from a single major report.
That comes courtesy of MySmartPrice, which has shared what it claims are official Motorola press renders of the phone:
They show a design that’s reminiscent of the latest Samsung flip phones, with a small cover screen next to the two cameras, used for notifications, selfies, and basic widgets.
The phone is coated in a vegan leather finish, and comes in three colours, which SamInsider adds will be named Vanilla Cream, Sage Green, and Summer Lilac.
Sadly, concrete details on specs beyond that – whether it’s screen size, chipset, camera hardware, or otherwise – are thin on the ground, other than the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration mentioned above.
However, we know much more about the Razr 40 Ultra, and expect some of its specs to apply here too.
Razr 40 Ultra
This phone has leaked more, and it’s not hard to see why: this is the exciting model.
The Razr 40 Ultra is not only a new model for Motorola, but a massive change for foldables as well, as just about everyone agrees that it will be the first flip phone to have a display across the entirety of one of its exterior sides. Our best look at that comes from the reliable evleaks, sharing alleged official Motorola renders:
There’s a lot to unpack here, but let’s start with the obvious: the cover screen.
According to XDA Developers, this is a 3.5in display with a 1056×1066 resolution. As you can see from the renders, it actually wraps all the way around the dual cameras and flash, giving you an interrupted – but enormous – screen for larger widgets, the option to open some full apps, and seemingly even the ability to play a custom game or two.
SamInsider adds that the three colours shown in the renders are officially Viva Magenta, Glacier Blue, and Phantom Black, and you can make out that on the back the phone shares the vegan leather coating of the regular Razr 40.
If the design seems too outlandish to you, bear in mind that we’ve previously seen it leaked by evleaks in February, and then again in April. We even once got an alleged look at the design in real life, thanks to this photo shared by 91mobiles.
More importantly, Motorola itself has teased the design on Chinese social media network Weibo, sharing this poster highlighting the 3+in screen on the phone’s outside (and specifying a 3.5in size in the accompanying text).
So that’s what the Razr 40 Ultra looks like. But what can it do?
Well, it’s believed to be powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which has since been seen in the phone in a Geekbench listing under the name ‘razr plus 2023’. That’s not the absolute latest chip around – that would be the 8 Gen 2 – but it should have plenty of power for a flagship experience.
As mentioned above, we expect it to come with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage in its starting configuration, though XDA Developers believes it will come with up to 12GB RAM and 512GB storage.
The internal, folding display is expected to be a 6.7in, 2640×1080 AMOLED panel, and Motorola has already teased a high refresh rate, which we suspect means hitting the same 144Hz rate as on the previous Razr model – it’s unlikely to be a step back from that, after all.
XDA also thinks it knows what the cameras are: a 12Mp IMX563 main camera paired with a 13Mp ultrawide, with a 32Mp selfie camera on the inner display. That’s an odd setup, with the highest resolution saved for the inner screen, but we’ll have to see what Motorola has in mind here.
As for the battery, MySmartPrice reports based on the phone’s FCC certification that the Ultra will have a 3640mAh capacity – which is quite small, though a touch larger than the previous model – along with 33W charging. That’s a little slow, and there’s no sign yet of wireless charging support either.
For now, you can read our roundups of the best Android phones and best phones coming in 2023 to see our current pick of the crop.
Author: Dominic Preston, Deputy Editor
Tech Advisor's Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming - plus he's a regular fixture on the Tech Advisor YouTube channel.