Motorola’s $1,500 Razr Reboot Feels More Prototype Than Premium

The pricey foldable device is compact, but it isn’t ready to replace your current smartphone.

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
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As smartphone sales have slowed in recent years, designers have been looking to reinvent the category. But Motorola’s new $1,500 Razr shows there’s a long way to go before flagship devices like the iPhone are disrupted.

The Razr is the third foldable Android phone launched by a big-name brand in recent months. The first attempts from Samsung and Huawei transformed into tablets, whereas the Razr is more of a foldable phone. Its 6.2-inch screen shuts into a small square, about half the size of an iPhone 11 Pro Max, and it benefits from deep nostalgia for the original Razr flip phone that defined the pre-iPhone era in the U.S.