Motorola Razr (2023): Everything there is to know about the next-gen foldable

The Motorola Razr (2022) was a welcome upgrade from the expensive and underpowered Razr 5G, but if rumours are to be believed, bigger and better things are on the way with the Motorola Razr (2023) this year. 

Leaks and renders seem to suggest a big change is in store for the Motorola Razr and its outer display in particular, with others suggesting the upgraded model might be released in the next couple of months. It’s also possible that it could make its debut as the upgraded Razr+ alongside the Razr (2022).

With all that said, here’s everything there is to know about the rumoured Motorola Razr (2023) right now, including release date and pricing speculation, the latest rumours and even real-world leaked images of the clamshell foldable. 

When will the Motorola Razr (2023) be released?

The rebooted Motorola Razr has had a bit of an inconsistent launch schedule over the past few years. 

The initial Motorola Razr was announced in November 2019, the second-gen Razr 5G followed up fairly quickly in September 2020 and then we saw the third-gen Razr (2022) launch in August 2022 – in China, anyway. The phone eventually launched in parts of Europe and the UK at the end of 2022, with no US release on the cards.

While that doesn’t leave us much to go on, online whispers claim we might not have too long to wait until we see the next-gen Motorola Razr. 

The main source of information on the Razr (2023) release date is reliable leaker Evan Blass, also known as Evleaks on Twitter. As well as releasing the first leaked renders of the phone – more on that in a bit – the leaker suggests that the new Razr could be announced as soon as 1 June 2023. 

MySmartPrice has also thrown its hat in the ring, simply suggesting that the phone will launch “later this year”. What makes this more interesting is that the site claims that the new phone will actually be dubbed the Motorola Razr+ (2023) – could that suggest Motorola is thinking of keeping the 2022 model on sale alongside the upgraded 2023 variant? 

We don’t have that long to find out if rumours are true… 

How much will the Motorola Razr (2023) cost?

There isn’t any word on how much this year’s Motorola Razr could cost, but we can look back at previous pricing to give us a good idea – and it looks like good news for prospective buyers.

While the second-gen Motorola Razr 5G was an expensive purchase at £1,399, the Motorola Razr (2022) dropped down to a much more tempting £949 – £50 less than the RRP of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, the Razr’s main competition in western markets. 

We can’t see that going down any less this year with spiralling costs worldwide, but we expect the price to be at least maintained with the 2023 variant. 

The only factor that could complicate this is if this year’s release is indeed dubbed the Motorola Razr+ as MySmartPrice suggests. If this is intended to be a ‘plus’ model, it’s possible that Motorola could keep the 2022 Razr at the same entry-level price while charging a little more for the Razr+ – maybe something closer to the old £1,399 RRP. 

It’s certainly an interesting thought. 

Latest Motorola Razr (2023) rumours and leaks

Despite nothing official from Motorola, we’re getting a good idea about what to expect from the Motorola Razr (2023) in the form of rumours, leaks, renders and even real-world images of the clamshell foldable. So, without further ado…

Upgraded cover display

Leaker Evan Blass didn’t just tease a potential June release for the Motorola Razr (2023) – he also shared renders of the upcoming foldable that seems to showcase a much larger cover display than that of the Motorola Razr (2022).

The Motorola Razr (2022) has the widest display around measuring in at 2.4 inches, and Motorola lets you interact with the entire Android OS – including running apps – from that exterior display. It’s handy, but its size means it’s rather limited in what it can display. That’s all set to change if these renders are true.

The renders showcase a cover display that takes up the entirety of the outer shell of the Razr, possibly measuring in at 3.6 inches or more. That should further Motorola’s aim of providing full access to Android from the cover display and help it stand out from the foldable competition. 

The renders also seem to show that the cover cameras have ditched the raised island camera housing and are now directly embedded within the cover display. If you hate hole-punch cameras then you’ll probably hate this too, but I think it looks rather futuristic. 

Interestingly, the feature has been confirmed by Lenovo executive Chen Jin across a number of posts on Chinese social networking website Weibo. Jin discussed the major advance that the 3.5-inch display of the original iPhone brought to smartphones, and an accompanying image says that the Razr (2023) will have a “3.X-inch” display.

Jin encourages fans to guess at the exact size, but given the importance that Jin gave to the size of the OG iPhone display in the posts, it’s highly likely that it’ll measure in at 3.5 inches.

Refined design

Thanks to a leak shared by 91mobiles, we’ve had our first look at what’s claimed to be the Razr (2023) in real-world pictures. 

Granted, it’s not the clearest, but the snap reveals a new vibrant pink/red finish on the outer shell along with a redesigned hinge mechanism that looks a little cleaner, and it seems to sport the larger outer display outlined by Evan Blass.

The Tech Outlook has also shared renders of the upcoming foldable, though these are pretty low-res compared to Evleaks’ images. The renders seem to confirm everything we’ve seen until this point, though with one interesting tweak; there doesn’t seem to be a cut-out for the internal camera. 

That could mean one of two things: Motorola has completely ditched the selfie camera now that the outer display is large enough for selfies, or it’ll sport an under-display camera. The former could make sense if it wasn’t for video calls – that still won’t be great on a 3.6-inch display – which leads us to believe it could be the latter. 

We’ve seen other companies, including Samsung and its Z Fold 4, experiment with under-display cameras, though we’re yet to see any that delivers anything close to a standard selfie camera in terms of overall quality. Will Motorola change this with the Razr (2023)? Let’s hope so.  

Performance and specs

As well as providing low-res renders of what’s claimed to be the Motorola Razr (2023), The Tech Outlook also provided a smattering of specs, though if true, it sounds like an odd update.

Firstly, the outlet claims that the Razr (2023) will sport the same Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset as last year’s model. While that’s still a perfectly serviceable chipset, it has been usurped by the faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and, depending on when this year it launches, it could also have the rumoured Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 to compete with.

Again, the only way this makes sense is if the new model is actually the Razr+ – it’d make a little more sense if it was matching the 2022 variant, though it wouldn’t make it very tempting when looking at the wider foldable market. It’s also completely possible that this is incorrect and that we’ll see a newer chipset in the foldable, but we’ll have to wait and see for now.

Elsewhere, it’s claimed that the Razr (2023) could sport an identical 6.7-inch 144Hz OLED display, along with 64MP and 13MP dual rear cameras and a 32MP selfie camera. We’ll just have to wait and see if that 32MP snapper is below the display or whether the renders are incorrect. 

Battery life

One potential area of concern is battery life – even compared to the relatively small 3,500mAh battery within the Razr 2022. 

According to MySmartPrice, the 2023 model of Razr could come with a pretty compact 2,850mAh battery. That’s seriously small not only compared to candybar flagships but even competing foldables like the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s 3,700mAh and the Oppo Find N2 Flip’s 4,300mAh, leading us to believe that this simply can’t be the case.

What’s more likely is that 2,850mAh battery is one of two battery cells set to be used in the phone. That’s not to say that the second battery cell will match the 2,850mAh of the first cell, but it should hopefully top it up to at least be consistent with the 2022 model, if not something closer to the Oppo Find N2 Flip to power that larger external display. 

That does seem to be the case, with FCC documentation describing the presence of a second 790mAh battery, bringing the total capacity up to 3,640mAh. That is a minor boost on last year’s model, but it’s not exactly groundbreaking. The documentation also points towards slightly faster 33W charging compared to 30W of its predecessor, but again, that’s not a huge upgrade overall.

It’s worth noting that The Tech Outlook claims that the Razr (2023) will have a larger 4,000mAh battery, though with official FCC details appearing online, this seems unlikely. 

We’ll continue to update this story as rumours surface, so check back soon for the latest on the Motorola Razr (2023).