The Motorola razr is delayed, but not for the reason you think

Even though the year is almost through, U.S. consumers are still eagerly waiting to pre-order one last phone before the ball drops in Times Square to signal the start of the new year. And that handset is the Motorola razr. The nostalgia-tinged device is the smartphone version of the razr flip phone that sold 130 million units between 2004-2008. The popularity of the phone led consumers to request a smartphone version of the device. Back in 2016, Motorola got a buzz going by releasing a video teaser showing a high school hallway circa 2005 when everyone just had to have the clamshell flipper.

After several months of speculation, concepts, and leaks, Motorola officially brought back the razr on November 13th with pre-orders scheduled to begin on December 26th. Priced at $1,500 (24 monthly payments of $62.49), the phone is a Verizon exclusive in the states and had a launch date of January 9th. But like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X before it, these initial dates are being pushed back. The new pre-order and launch dates were not announced, and Motorola says that they do not expect that there will be a significant time delay.

Unlike the Galaxy Fold launch, which was delayed days before the device was set to be released, the issue with the razr does not appear to have anything to do with problems discovered with its build. Early indications are that the manufacturer simply needs the additional time to build more units to catch up with the heavy demand. Motorola told Gizmodo today in a statement that "Since its announcement in November, the new Motorola razr has received unparalleled excitement and interest from consumers. Demand has been high, and as a result, has quickly outgrown supply predictions. Motorola has decided to adjust razr’s presale and launch timing to better meet consumer demand. We are working to determine the appropriate quantity and schedule to ensure that more consumers have access to razr at launch. We do not anticipate a significant shift from our original availability timeline."

Samsung was forced to delay the launch of the Galaxy Fold by approximately five months after influencers peeled off what they thought was a protective film causing the internal display to break. In addition, debris was sucked into the screen through gaps in the hinges causing bulges to appear on the screen. Samsung canceled all pre-orders and went back to the drawing board to fix these issues. The Huawei Mate X was supposed to be released during the summer, but it too was delayed and was finally released last month.

There are some major differences between the foldables produced by Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola. The Galaxy Fold and Mate X are both smartphone size devices that turn into large-screened tablets when opened around the vertical axis. The razr starts out as a pocketable device that opens up along the horizontal axis to become a 6.2-inch thin P-OLED display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and an 876 x 2142 resolution. Unlike the other two foldables, the razr does not feature flagship specs. It is equipped with an external 2.7-inch AMOLED screen with a 600 x 800 resolution that can be used for notifications and will show the time, temperature and other basic information. The Snapdragon 710 chipset is under the hood along with

6GB of memory and 128GB of storage. There is a fingerprint scanner in the chin and a 16MP camera that offers Motorola's Night Vision feature. A 5MP camera is available for selfies. While the 2510mAh capacity battery might have you searching for an outlet at some point during the course of a day, the TurboPower charger will provide "hours of power in just minutes of charging."

Even if this delay is due to the amazing popularity of the razr, foldables could get branded as being unpredictable when it comes to product launches. The next major foldable after the razr will most likely be the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 which also folds around the horizontal axis like the razr. That phone is expected to be unveiled alongside the new Galaxy S11 line on February 18th and could be released in April.

If you're interested in the Motorola razr, keep checking in. As soon as Motorola releases the new pre-order and release dates we will let you know.