The evolution of Motorola phones, from the bag phone to the iconic Razr flip phone that's making a comeback this year
A new version the Motorola Razr is coming this year, the CEO of Lenovo told CNBC.
The Motorola Razr became one of the most iconic mobile phones when it was released in 2004.
Take a look at the evolution of Motorola phones, from the brick phone to the modernized 2020 Razr.
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
Motorola's DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) line started with the DynaTAC 8000x which launched in 1984. It cost $3,995 when it was released.
The Motorola DynaTAC 8000X was a result of a race between Motorola and Bell Labs. Former Motorola vice president Martin Cooper made the first private call from a mobile phone to Joel Engel, his Bell Labs rival.
Source: PCMag, mobilecollectors.net, Insider
Motorola MicroTac Elite
The Motorola MicroTAC was released in 1989, and was one of the smallest and lightest phones at the time, meaning it was also easier to carry around. It retailed for $2,995 when it was released in the US.
The phone could be folded in two places, making it pocket-size — and technically a "flip phone."
Source: Mobile Phone Museum, AP Newsroom, Insider
Motorola International 3300
The Motorola International 3300 was released in 1993. Its predecessor, the Motorola International 3200, was the first hand-sized digital mobile phone with 2G digital cellular network.
Source: Getty Images, IT History, Insider
Motorola 2900, "bag phone"
The Motorola 2900 was released in 1994 and was part of a line of car phones, also known as "bag phones." Inside the bag was a transceiver, battery, and corded headset used for talking. Compared to previous phones, bag phones allowed for longer talk times and had a larger transmission range. The bag could be carried around, but was mostly used in cars.
The bag phone first used 1G networks, but started using 2G networks.
Source: PCMag, Wikimedia Commons, Insider
Motorola StarTAC
The StarTAC, which was released in 1996, was called a "clamshell" for its ability to fold in half instead of folding in two parts like the MicroTAC.
It was the first cell phone that operated with two batteries that were removable, so when one battery died, the user could use the other battery on the phone. The phone could support up to a four hour phone call, or 47 hours of standby time.
Source: Reuters, Insider, Motorola
Motorola Accompli A6188
The Motorola Accompli A6188 came out in 2000, and had a touch-screen display. The phone had Chinese handwriting recognition technology, an English and Chinese dictionary, an electronic organizer, and could access the internet.
Source: Motorola
From left to right: the Talkabout 192, the V66, and the Timeport 280
The Motorola Talkabout 192, V66, and Timeport 280 were released in 2001, and were part of Motorola's plan to increase its development of cell phones with high-speed data. The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) was a new form of technology at the time that allowed phones to access to the web.
The V66 handset was a tri-band phone, meaning the phone could be used around the world. The Talkabout 192 was supposed to be an inexpensive GPRS phone.
Source: ABC News, Mobile Phone Museum, Reuters
Motorola V600
The V600 was released in 2004, and had a VGA camera, Bluetooth, USB syncing, and MP3 ringtones. It was part of Motorola's line of "triplets" phones that had cameras, alongside the V300 and the V500.
Source: CNET, Getty Images, The Wall Street Journal
Motorola Razr V3
The Motorola Razr V3 is possibly one of the most popular cell phones in history, and sold 50 million units by mid-2006. It was released in 2004, and was marketed as a "fashion" phone.
The Razr V3 boosted the company's revenue in 2004, and was the the top-selling cell phone in North America, as well as the number two phone in the world.
At the time it was released, the Razr V3 cost $449.
Source: Insider, Fast Company, CNET
Motorola Pebl
The Pebl was able to flip open just by the flick of a thumb, the phone's "defining gesture" according to Jim Wicks, Motorola's former vice president and director of consumer-experience design. The phone was released in 2005.
Source: Fast Company, GSMArena
Motorola Rokr
The Motorola Rokr was released in 2005, and was the first cell phone that supported iTunes. However, the phone's handset was slow, only stored 100 songs at a time, and needed a wire to download songs.
At the time it was released, a new Rokr with iTunes pre-installed sold for $249.99.
Motorola Cliq
The Motorola Cliq, which was released in 2009 in response to Apple's iPhone, was Motorola's first cell phone that was based on the Android operating system. The touchscreen phone had a customizable homepage that users could access Facebook and Twitter from. It cost $199.99 at the time with a T-Mobile contract.
Google, one of the developers behind the Android operating service, acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in 2012.
Motorola Mobility made Android its sole operating system for its smartphones in 2008.
Source: Wired, Insider, CNET, Google
Motorola Droid
The Motorola Droid, a more successful iPhone competitor, was released in 2009, and was a large reason for Android's popularity.
Motorola Razr 5G
Fast forward a decade and the Motorola Razr 5G is the latest version of Motorola's Razr series, and was one of the first phones released that had a bendable screen. It currently costs $599.99, but was previously priced at $1,399.99.
Yuanqing Yang, the CEO of Lenovo, told CNBC that Motorola plans to release another version of its foldable Motorola Razr "very soon."
Lenovo bought Motorola from Google for $2.91 billion in 2014, but Google kept a majority of the 17,000 patents it acquired when it bought Motorola in 2012.
Source: CNBC, Motorola, CNBC, Insider
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