Three years after the debut of his hugely popular Razr, Motorola introduced the world to the Rizr. Although loved by many, the product never managed to achieve the same level of cultural cache as its predecessor. The two devices shared some design cues, but the Rizr was distinguished by a screen that slides up to reveal the physical keyboard below.
A lot has changed in the 17 years since that product's launch, but after the resurrection of the Razr as a foldable, the firm, now owned by Lenovo, brings back the Rizr in concept form. As with the Razr, it's clear why the company opted to give the old brand tires a kick. You could say that the 2023 Rizr is something of a spiritual successor to the 2006 model.
The new version changes the sliding action for a rolling screen. We had already seen proof of concept of this technology in the past, mostly independent. This is display technology designed to fit more phones in less space. By default, it has a compact five-inch 15:9 screen. When certain apps are opened, gestures are activated, or orientation is changed, it is mechanically enlarged to 6,5 inches with a 22:9 aspect ratio.
But keep in mind that phone makers are increasingly following the lead of car companies and announcing concept devices. It's partly about gauging consumer interest and partly about showing the public - and shareholders - that your R&D department is doing innovative work, whether or not that work ultimately translates into a product. . See also: yesterday's OnePlus 11 prototype.
I have to say that Motorola's parent company, Lenovo, has never been shy about bringing strange and aggressive form factors to market, be it an E Ink tablet or the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which is effectively a folding phone in the shape of a laptop.
It does raise a lot of questions though, should this thing ever actually come to market. Given what happened in the early days of foldables, you have to make sure that a device that's sold to the public is capable of repeating that action hundreds of thousands of times.
