Is Can a phone have “pretty privileges”? So-so features and functionality be damned, the original Motorola Razr V3 and its successors dominated the US cell phone market for four years after its release in 2004 – leading up to the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 – seemingly based on sentiment and aesthetics alone. Not to glorify consumerism or anything, but I miss it terribly.
I was 11 years old when the Razr came out, and was probably the first generation of kids to beg their parents to buy them a cell phone. Before that, we weren't really the target audience – cell phones were mostly bulky and boring things, especially for working adults. SMS SMS had Only became something everyone used every day, and mobile data, while available on many models, was too expensive and slow to even be considered. The only “reversible” technology I was interested in up to that point was the Game Boy Advance SP.
But the Razr had something that other cell phones had largely neglected: it was hot. The design innovatively reinvigorated the pop culture of Y2K futurism and is still fondly remembered today as the flagship of the “Chromecore” and “McBling” aesthetic. It seemed to prioritize fashion over function, and that felt desirable fresh compared to the typical clunky blobs of plastic that had become commonplace (looking at you, Nokia 1100). Jim Wicks, Motorola's former head of design, once told it The edge that the company consciously set out to create something that would be “contradictory to everything else everyone else was doing with cell phones at the time.”
The wafer-thin handset lived up to its name. It was only 10mm thick, about half the size of most phones of the time. It was also much wider than its competitors to allow enough space for a larger, super-slim keypad that could be used without pressing wrong keys. The housing is partly made of metal and glass for additional stability. Combined with the backlit and laser-etched aluminum keyboard, it looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Motorola leaned heavily into this sentiment, some even early on matrix-inspired advertising.
In the end, it didn't matter that Motorola's software really sucked and was notorious for being slow and annoying to navigate, or that many of the original Razr's features – such as the lackluster 0.3-megapixel camera – fell short of what other phones on the market could offer. It looked and felt incredibly high quality. Even the eye-watering price tag of $500 (with a two-year contract) didn't stop the first model, confusingly named “V3,” from selling over 130 million units, at a time when other “fun” phones like the $280 Nokia 3220 cost significantly less.
The luxurious price tag may actually have boosted the Razr's status. The original Razr was unveiled at the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen to a crowd of fashion journalists, not tech bloggers. The device was then cleverly marketed as a must-have for celebrities, promoted by everyone from Paris Hilton to Bono. Meryl Streep used one as Miranda Priestly in The devil wears Pradaas did Jack Shephard in Season 3 of Lost. At some point, you could buy a Razr in almost any color that best suits your personal style and identity.
Particularly sought-after were the pink models, which were said to have been specially made for celebrities such as Nicole Richie and Maria Sharapova before they were officially released to the general public. The pink Razr was rumored to have sold 3 million units in the UK alone. Rihanna was still using her cell phone in 2014, long after flip phones had fallen out of favor. The connection to pop culture runs so deep that Motorola brought back Paris Hilton to promote the pink 2024 model.
This cult status, along with Gen Z's obsession with Y2K “bimbo” and “Barbiecore” culture in general, helped immortalize the original Razr V3 as the “it girl” phone of the mid-2000s. And with Y2K fashion becoming increasingly popular among younger generations, the Razr is once again hard to miss. The incredibly kitschy 2005 Dolce & Gabbana model was as iconic an “accessory” as Ugg boots and Juicy Couture tracksuits. There is even a growing trend of Millennials and Generation Z returning to the iconic flip phone to break away from the constant online feeling.
We can still imagine Razr's celebrity and fashion-focused advertising concept being used by today's dominant phone makers, albeit less successfully. Apple introduced the Apple Watch during Paris Fashion Week 2014 and hired former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve and Burberry boss Angela Ahrendts for senior positions. If you watch any of Samsung's phone launch events in the last few years, you'll notice that the focus is on famous faces, from BTS to Sabrina Carpenter. And this treatment is particularly noticeable in the foldable lineup – various artists and online influencers starred in a bizarre promotional video for the Galaxy Z Flip when it launched in 2020, and there's been a big focus on celebrity marketing since then for subsequent model releases.
But the fun factor is simply no longer the same and since the appearance of the iPhone, smartphones have increasingly deteriorated into thick, glassy rectangles. Experimental design is an expensive risk, as apps (typically optimized for large touchscreens) have become the primary reason we use our phones, and all manufacturers use the same universally popular features like biometric scanners and wireless charging. Even Motorola hasn't been able to repeat its own success in repeated attempts to revive the Razr brand. Holding a 2020 Razr didn't make me feel like a fashionista or a drunken party girl. Most of the time it just made me feel old and wistful.
The Razr brand ultimately became a victim of its own success. Motorola stuck with a visually similar design across the various Razr and Razr2 models for around four years, long enough to seem dated compared to Apple and Samsung's “innovative” touchscreen panels. Now, after 16 years of cell phones that largely conform to Apple's design, the most controversial decision for U.S. consumers is usually not the design but the color your text bubbles should be.
I never got a Razr and don't want one anymore. The 2024 version looks good, but may not even be what the V3 once was. But I would give anything to see Motorola or someone else make cool dumbphones again.