Guys, Motorola’s $1,500 Razr Still Runs Android 9

In November of last year, the moment after Motorola announced its fancy foldable Razr phone, we pointed out numerous issues with the device that raised flags from our perspective. The dated processor, small battery, and Verizon exclusivity were some of the concerning areas, particularly at the price, but the most glaring of all issues might have been its dated software.

You see, the Motorola Razr was only going to launch with Android 9 “Pie,” a version of Android that was by no means close to current. Google had released Android 10 months before to its Pixel phones, but we had seen OnePlus and Samsung already start to adopt it to their phones as well. To launch a $1,500 phone with an outdated version of Android, knowing that Motorola (or should we blame Lenovo?) has become terrible at long-term and timely support for its phones, was a major turn-off.

It’s gotten worse, though. The phone was going to open for pre-orders in December with Android 9 and then ship in January, but was then pushed because of high demand during the pre-registration period. After a short delay, pre-orders did open and the phone arrived in our hands the first week of February. That’s February 2020 and still Android 9.

Our review speaks for itself in how we feel about the Motorola Razr, but after seeing the phone shockingly go up for a BOGO free deal this weekend, it’s now back in mind. And since it’s in my mind, I was curious if it had been updated to Android 10 since we last had our hands on it, because I couldn’t recall writing up the news.

As it turns out, we are now in May and the Motorola Razr, a foldable phone that costs $1,500, is still running a version of Android that is almost two years old. It has received a couple of monthly security patches from Verizon, just not the update to the version of Android it should have shipped with.

Now, Motorola has issued an Android 10 update to the Moto Z4, so this is clearly something they are capable of doing. The new Motorola Edge+ will also run Android 10 out of the box. I would think that Android 10’s better support for foldables might be good for the Razr as well, yet here we are.

Motorola and Lenovo have so clearly decided that their customers are OK without current software that might better suit their phones. They have only guaranteed one version update to the $1,000 Edge+ and have let the Razr run 2-year old software for months. If the Motorola Edge+ or the BOGO Razr offer were grabbing your attention, think about what you might be buying yourself into.