Samsung’s Fold 2 Has To Solve Motorola Razr’s Biggest Problem

The Motorola Razr has a questionably small battery.

Motorola

There’s a matter mark about battery life in smaller foldable phones, especially clamshell shape devices just like the upcoming Motorola Razr.

Reviewers haven’t were built with a possibility to properly test out the Razr yet and the Lenovo-owned company is staying tight-lipped about when review units should go out. But, just in line with the specifications, the 2510mAh battery doesn’t inspire confidence.

The Razr ultimately folds out in a 6.2-inch phone - other handsets that size have batteries round the 3500mAh mark. It appears that Motorola’s solution with this would be to focus on providing the maximum amount of functionality as you possibly can from the “Quick View” display on the outside the product, that's presumably a reduced amount of power hungry. The press materials also mentioned disconnecting and taking “a break from distractions”.

It may be that Motorola has some magic trick up its sleeve that leads to long battery life, but I doubt it. The design reality of those devices is large, clunky, non-malleable components need to be packed right into a smaller space - which means something has to give. In this case: the battery size.

If Samsung is actually launching a clamshell foldable phone next February to take on Motorola, exactly what can it do in order to solve it conundrum? The Korean company is typically a safe set of hands in terms of battery life in the smartphones, so it will need to find a solution to help keep that crown.

The simplest choice is likely a thicker phone using a battery either side with the hinge. However part of the appeal of clamshell phones is always that they’re compact and pocketable you might say current generation phones simply aren’t - tinkering with that formula is probably not wise.

Another cruder alternative is an add-on battery case that perhaps comes free with the device, but this doesn’t sound like something design-obsessed Samsung would do. There’s also some other chance the new, reduced size, battery protection module could take back some space, but it’s unclear how much (or if the newest tech will make it into Samsung’s next phone).

I’m in the dark about how Samsung - or some other company making foldable phones - solves this riddle. Frankly, during this period, it looks unsolvable. But something needs to be done, because next generation clamshell phones will probably be one from the most popular foldbale designs available. The reaction to the announcement with the Razr is definitely an early indication of this. If they uniformly - across multiple brands - have poor life of the battery then their existence may be over quickly.

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