Looks like Motorola wasn't kidding about stronger than expected Razr demand

Motorola’s Razr flip phone reboot was one of the most highly anticipated smartphones of 2019 with pre-orders originally expected to start on December 26. Then the company joined the likes of Samsung and Huawei by postponing the market availability of their foldable, putting its launch back to what turned out to be exactly month later. At the time, Motorola said this was due to “unparalleled excitement and interest from consumers,” and it appears they weren’t bluffing.

At the time we checked in on the Motorola online store, a pre-order made now won’t see a Razr ship until February 18. It’s hard to know exactly what this means in terms of sales figures as yet, but it will have been a long time since a Motorola fan would have to wait that long after its shipping date (February 6 in this instance) to get their hands on one of its devices. With the Galaxy Fold retailing for US$1,980 and the Huawei Mate X going for around US$2,500, the US$1,500 starting price for the Motorola Razr is relatively attractive for a device with a foldable OLED panel.

Speaking foldable OLED displays, it was only yesterday that Motorola released a video on how to care for your new Razr. Unfortunately, it isn’t exactly confidence inspiring and is reminiscent of the advice Samsung has given to Galaxy Fold customers. Of course, as a new display technology covered with plastic coating instead of glass, it is only to be expected that it won’t like being prodded by sharp fingernails or other sharp objects. Still, it was not quite what users were promised by Motorola’s executives on its launch.