Motorola Foldable Phone Development Confirmed, May Debut Under Razr Brand Later This Year

After Huawei and Samsung, Motorola is now set to jump on the bandwagon and bring its foldable phone. The company owned by Lenovo revealed its future plans in a media interview and mentioned that it would bring a foldable phone "[no] later than everybody else in the market" -- suggesting the launch is scheduled for sometime later this year. The new development comes days after a Motorola patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) emerged detailing a foldable smartphone design. The company is likely to launch its foldable model under the iconic Razr brand that was once associated with clamshell phones.

Motorola VP of Global Product Dan Dery in an interview with Engadget confirmed the plans of launching a foldable phone. "We started to work on foldables a long time ago," said Dery, as quoted by Engadget. "And we have been doing a lot of iteration."

The actual design of the foldable phone by Motorola is uncertain. But nonetheless, Dary mentioned that Motorola had "no intention of coming later than everybody else in the market." This suggests that the company could bring the new model sometime around the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Fold that is set for April or the Huawei Mate X that is planned for mid-2019. Moreover, Motorola may host a launch event around August -- similar to last year's launch of the 5G-ready Moto Z3 that debuted with a 5G Moto Mod.

Dery didn't reveal the specifications of the final foldable phone, though he specified that Motorola had been testing a plastic OLED device with plastic film on top. The company primarily appears to be concerned about offering a phone that wouldn't get scratches easily. Therefore, it is likely to take an approach different from what Samsung and Huawei adopted while designing their foldable phone models that both have screens on the outside panel.

To resist scratches to some extent, Motorola's "intention would not be to put the display outside," suggests Dery. If we look at the images featured in the company's recent patent application, the foldable phone could have a design similar to the past Razr models. Dery also confirmed during his interview that there is a possibility of a dual-hinge device with a single flexible display that folds twice, while a third of the display would be available in the phone mode.

Samsung and Huawei with their foldable phones are somewhat promoting a design that can offer a tablet-like experience. However, Motorola, being the tablet business exclusive to its parent company Lenovo, appears to bring a foldable phone that can easily fit in small pockets. Some initial renders gave a glimpse at what could be the actual foldable phone that might debut as Motorola Razr 2019.

It is speculated that foldable phone by Motorola will carry an aspect ratio of 19:8. Also, there would be a secondary display panel at the front panel to give a nostalgic feel to Razr fans.

With Galaxy Fold, has Samsung kicked off a revolution in smartphone tech? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.