News has been abuzz that Motorola has plans to release a foldable phone for a whopping $1,500 in February, and now patents and designs have surfaced to back up the claim.
The first reports came from the Wall Street Journal, but tech blog 91Mobiles discovered the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) patent filings that show what the device might look like and how it might operate. The phone may have a design similar to flip phones from the early mobile times, but inside, it may have a continuous display that folds in the middle.
Motorola RAZR foldable phone
The device may have a second screen on its outer panel, for displaying previews of calls and texts and other quick glimpse details. The patent also shows a camera located above this outer display.
It is possible Motorola may once again revive its RAZR branding for the device. Many have noted that the patents show a phone design similar to the Motorola RAZR V3 flip phone, which was on the market 15 years ago. Some have taken to calling the device Motorola RAZR V4, but no such details about its name or branding have been confirmed.
The foldable RAZR device may be a Verizon-exclusive, according to the WSJ, with only about 200,000 unit expected to ship. So far, no specs or hardware details are known for the device. It is unlikely the foldable display alone would drive its price that high, so there are suggestions that the device may have a number of premium features, such as the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip, and high memory and storage capacities. It will likely run the latest Android software, optimized for foldables as Google has announced it will support the new form factor for upcoming devices.
There were some murmurs in 2018 that Lenovo, Motorola’s parent company, has plans to release a foldable device in late 2019. However, that device may be more of a laptop or netbook rather than a smartphone.
