Razer Buys Nextbit To Enter The Smartphone Market

[Megalith]

I know what you’re thinking—here come sleek, black smartphones with neon green accents (that may or may not go bad in a couple of months). Hold that thought, though: while the gaming hardware company has acquired the guys behind the Robin phones, Nextbit suggests that it will “operate as an independent division inside Razer, focused on unique mobile design and experiences.” Despite this statement, Razer’s influence on the products will probably be inevitable, but that might actually lead to great things—recently, they have been showing us pretty creative stuff, like the Valkyrie laptop and Ariana lighting system.

…it’s clear the company is refocusing its efforts to some degree. Nextbit says it has stopped selling the Robin and accessories, and that it will continue to fulfill warranties for six more months. Given the phone was released in July 2016, that pretty much means that only the earliest adopters will receive their full year-long warranty. On the software end, Nextbit will provide updates and patches through February 2018. While the Nextbit purchase doesn’t guarantee Razer will begin to make smartphones, the emphasis on “mobile design and experiences,” certainly suggests that will be the case. Nextbit was founded by former HTC and Android employees, after all so their experience building smartphones is likely their most valuable asset.

 

[Domingo]

Hopefully whatever version of Android they use is at least 95% vanilla and updated regularly.

 

[ymer]

Will cost $2000 and have RGB leds everywhere.

 

[NeonFlak]

Well shit, I just bought two Robin's. Was hard to pass up on the hardware for $150.

 

[NoOther]

So now they will be overpriced, low quality, and poorly supported. Sounds like they will fit right in...

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Great. Looking forward to "gaming" phones with tunable RGB lights and spikes everywhere with poison inspired names...

 

[thesmokingman]

They'll be the first to put three fold out screens on your phone, then subsequently the prototype will get stolen.

 

[undermined]

So either Razer is going to put android into their peripherals or with this purchase and that of THX , they are building some VR/AR tech before Microsoft can come in with cheap HoloLens headsets and dominate the market.

 

[Flogger23m]

Who wants a phone that will die 4 months after you buy it, and then have the CS tell you to install their crappy bloatware to "help fix it"?

Great. Looking forward to "gaming" phones with tunable RGB lights and spikes everywhere with poison inspired names...

Squashed Cockroach. Get it right.

 

[rat]

So either Razer is going to put android into their peripherals or with this purchase and that of THX , they are building some VR/AR tech before Microsoft can come in with cheap HoloLens headsets and dominate the market.

Their buying THX was a huge shock to me. But it kind of sorta makes sense if you consider all Razer laptops come with a free basic lifetime susbcription to FruityLoops. They're probably going after the multimedia users like Apple catered to art students. But I just have the quizzical dog look with this Robin purchase. I'm not sure what Razer is really going for here.

 

[krotch]

It'd be sweet if like...the phone can be put into a dock on your keyboard and be used as a touch interface for your computer. Like I can keep playing my game in full screen, while on the phone, I can like change my music playlist or quick change my macro setup for my keyboard. Doubt that'd happen.

 

[D4rkn3ss]

i dunno man, the only thing razer i ever bought was a mousepad some years ago, but i find their notebooks very appealing, a new gaming phone from them could be pretty sweet, who knows?

Flogger23m oh yeah, "squashed cockroach" lol, i really hate that shit, but i dislike that retarded asus rog eye even more! XD

 

[Sorce]

Great. Looking forward to "gaming" phones with tunable RGB lights and spikes everywhere with poison inspired names...