This is likely our best look yet at Motorola's revamped Razr flip phone with a foldable display

Antonio Villas-BoasJan 22, 2019, 22:49 IST

WIPO

Design patents filed by Motorola in December 2018 were discovered after a Wall Street Journal report said that a new Razr flip-phone-style device with a foldable display is on its way from Lenovo, Motorola's parent company.
The design patents don't definitively reveal what the new device will look like, but they give us a general idea as to what it could look like.
The design patents show a device that's nearly identical to the original Razr V3 flip phone.

Last Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lenovo and Motorola will soon release a revival of its famed Razr V3 flip phone with a brand-new foldable display design, and it could cost $1,500.

After the news, mobile tech blog 91 Mobile discovered a design patent filed in December 2018 by Motorola containing images of a potential design for a new phone with a foldable display.

There's no mention of the name "Razr" in the patent, but anyone who remembers Motorola's Razr flip phones will immediately recognize the design in the patent. It looks nearly identical, at least on the outside. The inside of the phone, however, potentially reveals what Lenovo and Motorola have in mind for a new Razr flip smartphone with a foldable display.

I should stress that patents don't typically reveal exactly what to expect in a new upcoming device. Rather, patents only show what kinds of ideas a company has - and that idea ever seeing the light of day isn't guaranteed. Either way, based on the design patent images below, it seems that Motorola's idea is to make a modern rendition of its Razr flip phone that looks nearly identical to the original.

Check out the images from Motorola's patent filing for a new Razr device with a foldable display:

See This is likely our best look yet at Motorola's revamped Razr flip phone with a foldable display >>

The back of the device in the patent looks nearly identical to the Motorola Razr V3, and it appears to include a small display on the top half, just like the original.

Here's the back of the original Razr V3 so you can see how it's identical to the device shown in the Motorola design patent.

On the inside, the device in the patent looks like a typical — if slightly dated — smartphone. Gone is the iconic number pad, which is replaced with a single, supposedly foldable display.

The pictured device only looks dated because of the larger bezels compared to most modern smartphones that have slimmer bezels. Otherwise, the use of a foldable display would be cutting edge.

Indeed, the iconic number pad from the original Razr V3 and the original display itself would be replaced with a single smartphone touch display, which is said to fold over at the center. It won't crease at the hinge, according to The Wall Street Journal, so the display might simply bend rather than actually fold like a piece of paper.

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This is likely our best look yet at Motorola's revamped Razr flip phone with a foldable display

The back of the device in the patent looks nearly identical to the Motorola Razr V3, and it appears to include a small display on the top half, just like the original.

Here's the back of the original Razr V3 so you can see how it's identical to the device shown in the Motorola design patent.

On the inside, the device in the patent looks like a typical — if slightly dated — smartphone. Gone is the iconic number pad, which is replaced with a single, supposedly foldable display.

Basically, imagine the Razr V3 below, but with a display running from top to the bottom of the number pad, and without the bulky hinge in the middle.

From the side, the device looks indistinguishable from the original Razr V3.

Here's the side of the original Razr V3 for comparison.