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Smartphones
LifestyleGadgets

Motorola revives its 2000s flip phone, the Razr, but its price may make you flip

  • The popular 2000s flip phone returns as a smartphone with a foldable screen
  • Apart from the screen, the rest of the US$1,500 phone is pretty ordinary

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Motorola is bringing back the Razr flip phone 15 years after it debuted, rebooting it as a foldable smartphone. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
The Washington Post

Hello, it’s your flip phone from 2004 calling. Remember when phones fit into a shirt pocket? And closed up with a thunk?

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In December, Motorola is planning a comeback of its oh-so-thin flip phone, the Razr. But this reboot is an Android smartphone with a large touch screen that folds in half and a price that might make you flip out: US$1,500.

At a Motorola event in Los Angeles, I spent a little time with the new Razr ahead of its launch. I came away impressed with the seamless, bendable-screen tech – first seen on Samsung’s Galaxy Fold – that’s enabling a return to smaller phones. But this particular design trades heavily on a retro appeal that doesn’t quite deliver in the era of 2019’s ultra expensive smartphones.
Holding it with one hand, I couldn’t even get this Razr to flip closed with that satisfying snap. Motorola has never recaptured the household name status it had in the 2000s when the Razr was the bestselling flip phone. After being bought and then sold by Google, now it’s owned by Chinese hardware maker Lenovo. Today its smartphones have a small share of the US market.
A throwback to the popular 2000s flip phone, the new Motorola Razr uses folding technology to open up to a 6.2-inch screen. Photo: courtesy of Motorola
A throwback to the popular 2000s flip phone, the new Motorola Razr uses folding technology to open up to a 6.2-inch screen. Photo: courtesy of Motorola
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But bringing back the flip phone isn’t only a desperate plea to cash in on our affection for a dearly departed brand. The original Razr became popular, in part because it was small – one of the first phones you could slide into your pocket.

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