After Nokia 8110 redux, Motorola’s classic Razr-series might make a comeback

After Nokia, Lenovo-owned Motorola is working to revive a popular phone from yesteryear. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing during an interview at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress (MWC 2018) in Barcelona disclosed that Motorola's classic Razr series will soon make a comeback.

"With the new technology, particularly foldable screens, I think you will see more and more innovation on our smartphone design," he was quoted as saying. "So hopefully what you just described [the Motorola Razr brand] will be developed or realized very soon."

It's not clear at the moment when a revamped Motorola Razr will be launched. The company's CEO had made a similar statement at the last year's MWC as well.

The iconic Razr series and Motorola

Nokia was not the only popular mobile phone brand before the advent of smartphones.

Back in mid-2004, Motorola launched Razr V3, a flip phone that was unique in design. Motorola kicked off a new trend that mobile phones would also function as style statement.

Razr V3 had an ultra slim profile for its time, packaged in a clamshell set. It came with an electroluminescent keypad which was developed using a single metal wafer. It had then USB standard for data transfer and was bundled with headphones. It had an external glass screen.

By July 2006, the company sold more than 50 million units, a rare feat for any phone in that era. Motorola is said to have sold more than 130 million units, making it one of the best selling phone with a clamshell design.

Motorola, however, would later fade away from the limelight as the company failed to keep up with the fast-changing personal technology wherein touchscreen phones and 3G mobile internet became widely popular among consumers.

The company itself saw big changes in terms of ownership when Google acquired Motorola in 2012 before selling it to Lenovo just two years later.

Leveraging nostalgia

Nostalgia has been one of the powerful marketing tactics adopted by various companies over the years. In the world of technology, instant digital cameras are the one of the best examples of this gimmick doing so well with modern consumers.

And let's not forget Nokia which thrived on the nostalgia-triggering Nokia 3310 redux since its debut last year. The phone helped HMD Global, which owns the licence to sell and market Nokia-branded phones, become one of the top players in the feature phone market - a shrinking segment but still significant in size.

At the recently concluded MWC 2018, HMD Global revealed it had shipped more than 70 million units of the phone in last one year.

At the MWC 2018, HMD Global introduced a revamped Nokia 8110, the iconic slider feature phone which was seen in classic movies like The Matrix.