Can Razer Innovate the Mobile Phone Market?

Razer began primarily as a gaming peripheral company; however, their ambitions have expanded far beyond keyboards and mice and into full-fledged gaming laptops, fitness accessories and more. Their growth has even enabled them to acquire a major iconic brand such as THX (known for pioneering high-quality cinema audio). Over the course of the last year they acquired a little-known start-up named Nextbit, a smartphone manufacturer, comprising of former Google and HTC employees, and a grand total of one phone released under their name. This sparked the initial speculation of a Razer branded phone. Today they officially unveiled their intentions with the (unimaginatively named) “Razer Phone”.

The design is largely inspired by Nextbit’s original phone, the Robin, with the same slim, symmetric and industrially blockish design. Razer improved on its build materials however, swapping out the former’s plastic encasing for aluminium materials. Personally I was really hoping for something a bit more eye-catching considering Razer usually prides themselves in form over functionality.

Specifications

Display	5.7 inch, 1440p IPS LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate
Processor	Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835
Memory	8GB of RAM, 64GB of Internal Storage
Battery	4,000mAh battery
Sound	Front facing stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support, No 3.5mm jack
Camera	12PM Dual Cameras

Overall Thoughts

For $700 USD I'm not really sure what Razer is hoping to achieve here. Nothing about the phone is truly innovative or groundbreaking by other flagship device standards, and the price range really isn't too appealing. As an owner of Nextbit's Robin it's somewhat disappointing that they weren't able to continue their own creative vision.