A beefier Motorola Razr with 5G is reportedly dropping in the fall

Maybe call it a comeback? Motorola’s revived Razr, which released earlier in 2020 as a folding-screen flip phone, definitely underwhelmed. But now there’s some chatter that another one may be coming before the end of the year.

Get out that salt shaker, as this falls squarely into “rumor” territory. Setting aside the release timing, the next Razr is expected to to step up to a Snapdragon 765 CPU, a big improvement on the mid-range Snapdragon 710 at the heart of February’s Razr release.

The so-called “Razr 2” will also sport 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, a beefier 2,845 mAh battery, a 48MP rear camera, and a 20MP front-facing camera, along with Android 10 support out of the box. Importantly, the new phone would come with support for 5G networks, though the specifics of what form that 5G support will take remains murky.

The technical details come from an XDA-Developers report (h/t 9to5Google), which simply credits a “source” for the information, so it’s reasonable to doubt these details. Some of it just doesn’t make sense, like the fact that the more powerful battery seems like little more than a marginal improvement for a phone that’s going to have greater power needs thanks to that 5G support.

All that said (and assuming the info is accurate), there’s no reason those specs couldn’t change. If we assume the rumored release timeframe of September is real, that leaves plenty of months for things to change, even after you factor in things like production time.

It’s also worth pointing out that the release timing is a separate question. Suspicions of a second Razr release in 2020 first cropped up on May 19, when Lenovo South Africa General Manager Thibault Dousson suggested as much in an appearance on the Reframed Tech podcast (h/t Android Authority).

“There’s a new iteration [of the Razr] coming up. There’s one in September I think, coming up,” he said. He’s clearly not certain about that timing, but the mention seems to make it clear that something is in the works.

A September release might seem a little fast for the follow-up to a phone that was only just released in late February. It’s also a lot to assume that any tech release scheduled for 2020 is going to happen on time in the midst of all the ongoing supply chain disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

But making a speedy jump from the first- to the second-generation Razr makes a certain amount of sense. As beloved as the original Razr flip phone was, the 2020 remake didn’t manage to make the same splash. Mashable’s Brenda Stolyar found that its sleek body is comfortable to hold and produces a satisfying flip when you open and close it.

The warm reception ended there, however. Mashable’s review dinged the revived Razr for its lack of durability, weak battery, sub-par specs, and a visible crease in the folding screen. Verizon exclusivity didn’t do it any favors either. And the $1,499 price made the rest of the package that much harder to swallow.

All that really means is there’s a lot of ground to make up on a theoretical Motorola Razr 2. It’s a safe bet that it’ll happen at some point, and the fact that details and hints of release timing are starting to slip out suggests that it’ll be sooner rather than later.