The Motorola Razr 3 may get a substantial power upgrade according to a new report about the rumored follow-up to Motorola's foldable phone. If the report is accurate, we may finally see a phone that can take on Samsung's excellent Galaxy Z Flip 3.
The Motorola Razr takes Motorola's classic flip phone and gives it a foldable display, allowing you to open the phone for a full-screen experience. The initial release in late 2019 was powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 chipset, which proved underwhelming for such a pricey device. Motorola upgraded to a Snapdragon 765G for the follow-up Razr, which still failed to overtake the best foldable phones.
But Motorola may be stepping things up for the next Razr, tentatively called the Razr 3 according to XDA Developers. That same report, citing an inside source, claims the Razr 3 will use a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and launch with Android 12. That's Qualcomm's most powerful silicon currently, so that's a big step up from what previous Razrs have used.
Joining the new silicon would 6, 8, or 12GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage, according to XDA's source. The current Motorola Razr only offers 8GB RAM/256GB storage, so having more choice, including a higher memory version, is also welcome news.
Also joining the mix will reportedly be support for ultra wideband, which is starting to appear in flagship phones like the iPhone 13. Ultra wideband can be useful for tracking purposes, either for finding the phone or for hunting down compatible key trackers; it can also be used to unlock cars with ultra wideband support.
Some of XDA's other revelations are a bit vague. While there will be a secondary external display once again on the next Razr, the details — including its size — are unknown. The current Razr 5G uses a 2.7-inch outer display, so hopefully, the next one will be a little larger.
On the inner display, the camera will allegedly move out of the current iPhone-style notch. However XDA aren't able to say whether the camera will now be housed in a punch-hole, or in a slimmer notch. As for display specs, XDA says the Razr could sport a 120Hz, FHD panel, but it wasn't able to give us any indication of the size. For comparison, the current Razr 5G's inside screen is 6.2 inches
Another unfortunate set of specs lacking from the report are the Razr 3's cameras. The Razr 5G uses a 48MP main camera and a 20MP selfie camera on the inside, which covers its bases but means it doesn't offer an ultrawide sensor like the Galaxy Z Flip 3 does.
Taken as a whole, these leaked specs sound like the shot in the arm that the Razr needs. Both the original Motorola Razr 2019 and the Razr 5G have been underwhelming devices, leaving Samsung to conquer the clamshell foldable market segment pretty much by default. It'll be interesting to see if third time's the charm for Motorola whenever it decides to release a new Razr into the wild.
