Motorola may have demoed a prototype smartphone with a rollable vertical display this week at Mobile World Congress 2023. However, that doesn't mean the company has any plans to stop making more traditional foldable phones.
CNBC reports that during MWC 2003, Yuanqing Yang, the CEO of Motorola's parent company Lenovo, confirmed that a new version of its Motorola Razr foldable phone is in the works and will be released sometime in 2023. A specific launch date was not revealed, but Yang did say it's coming "very soon.”
There's also no word on the specs of the 2023 Razr, but Yang hinted strongly it will see some improvements in the all-important hinge hardware. He also hinted it might get some app improvements as well.
Yang also said that, while foldable phones are more expensive compared to standard phones, he expects the costs of foldables to be reduced in the future, saying "When the technology becomes mature, then the price could go down then you can drive higher volume."
Motorola announced the first foldable screen version of its Razr phone in 2019, and it launched in 2020, using a flip phone style similar to the classic Razr flip mobile phones. It released a 5G version later that same year. The company did release a 2022 version of the phone but only in China and other selected territories, and it never made its way to the US.
Source: CNBC