World enews: Motorola will try foldable phones again with a third-generation Razr

Motorola is working on a new version of its Razr foldable smartphones, according to a Weibo post spotted by Android Authority. The post is from Chen Jin, the general manager of the Lenovo Mobile Business Group in China (Lenovo is currently in charge of Motorola’s smartphone business), and describes how the company has been quietly working on a new addition to its lineup of foldable phones. It doesn’t have big shoes to fill — Motorola’s first two modern foldables were mediocre phones with hefty price tags.

We ran Jin’s post through a few translation sites, and while some parts didn’t make the jump to English, there are consistent details that show up in all the translations. The post mentions that the phone will have a better processor, better interface, and a tweaked appearance. At this early stage, though, it’s hard to say how different the third-gen device will be from the last one — the second-gen Razr was more of a spec bump that added 5G, rather than a marked improvement from the original Razr foldable announced in 2019.

Apple’s translation of Jin’s Weibo post.

Perhaps the third attempt at a foldable will be a charm — its previous two attempts have been hard to recommend, even before Samsung released the exceptional Z Flip 3 for $1,000. Today’s news, though, plus the fact that it’s still providing Android updates for them (albeit at a pretty slow pace), makes it seem like Motorola hasn’t given up on Razr revival.

One translation of Jin’s post indicates that it could release in China first, which is backed up by the announcement appearing on Weibo. We’ll be keeping our eyes out for more details or an announcement of this phone to see if it’s truly a notable upgrade or just another iteration of a forgettable foldable.

Manuella Foz, a Motorola spokesperson, told The Verge that the company “cannot comment on future devices” in response to an emailed request for comment.

Correction December 27th: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Android Police spotted Jin’s Weibo post. The post was actually found by Android Authority. We regret the error.