New Razer Phone 2018: Likely Price, Specs, and How to Livestream

Smartphone announcements are coming in hot. The day after Google announced its new Pixel lineup, the gaming hardware company Razer is presenting something at a mysterious Wednesday keynote in Los Angeles, California. Leaks so far indicate with near certainty it will be the Razer Phone 2, the company’s second-generation gaming phablet.

The company hasn’t said a word about refreshing its Android smartphone. But a steady trickle of leaks have painted a picture of a new product that looks exceedingly similar to the original Razer Phone released on November 2017.

Razer dove into the smartphone market after acquiring the handset manufacturer Nextbit in January 2017 and made a splash. Its original mobile device came with at 5.7-inch LCD display with 120-hertz — meaning the screen can redraw the entire image it’s displaying 120 times a second — for some silky smooth gameplay. Consumers took note.

The company reported $16.5 million in revenue in its “Other business” category primarily driven by Razer Phone sales, according to its 2018 interim earnings report. It also alluded to the fact that it was working on a follow-up.

“Razer is now focusing its resources into the development of the second generation Razer Phone and accompanying software releases which will extend its software and services from PC into the mobile market,” stated the report.

So how will the Razer Phone 2 stack up against the likes of the iPhone XS Max, Pixel 3 XL, and Galaxy Note 9? Interested users will have to tune in to find out.

Razer Phone 2: Price

A price estimate for the Razer Phone 2 has yet to leak, but last year’s release was priced at $700 and recently saw limited-time $300 to $400 markdowns. This could suggest Razer was trying unload inventory ahead of a new launch.

The Razer Phone 2 will likely see incremental upgrades in its screen, processor, and speakers. This could mean it will be carry the same or a slightly more expensive price tag than its predecessor.

Razer Phone 2: Specs

Sneak peeks at what the Razer Phone 2 would look under the hood have been few and far between and all of them point to the fact that it’ll look almost exactly like the original. The main differences will be under the hood.

It’s expected to house a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, up from the 835 and come with at 5.72-inch display, according to leaks aggregation site SlashLeaks. This most recent glimpse also came with a render of the phone that looks suspiciously similar to one tweeted by Evan blass late in September.

The image depicted a phone almost identical to last year’s model, with the same top and bottom bezels, USB-C charger, and lack of a headphone jack.

The most notable differences are the dual-rear facing cameras have been repositioned from the top right to the upper middle of the back panel and the Razer logo is a shade of neon green.

The original’s two biggest selling points were its 4,000 mAh battery, high-frequency screen, and dual-firing speakers. It came with three cameras total, two in the rear and a single selfie cam. The back duo was made up of a 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor and a 12MP optical zoom lens, while the front-facing camera clocked in at 8MP.

SlashLeaks’ post claims the rear camera set up will remain at 12MP but mentions nothing about whether or not the display will be OLED. If the screen remains LCD, the Razer Phone 2 will have a tough time competing against some of this year’s top-tier releases, which all touted OLED display.

However, the first Razer Phone’s specs were extremely similar to that of Samsung and Apple’s 2018 releases. The Note 9 also touted a 4,000 mAh battery and the iPhone XS Max has an almost identical camera set-up with a slightly inferior selfie cam.

Could only marginal improvements woo mobile gamers into buying this fledgling smartphone line?

Razer Phone 2: Live Stream

Smartphone fanatics will be able to tune into the announcement on Razer’s homepage, its YouTube channel, or its Twitch account.

The event will kick off at the following times:

• 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time
• 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time
• 2:30 a.m. British Summertime (Thursday)
• 9:30 a.m. Hong Kong time (Thursday)