Razr 40 Ultra: the value of staying closed

A folding phone becomes more interesting when being closed is useful rather than simply compact. The Motorola razr 40 ultra’s outer display made that distinction central to its design.

The screen wrapped around the rear cameras and allowed several tasks to take place without opening the device. Notifications, brief replies and framing a photograph could occupy the smaller surface, leaving the internal display for another kind of use.

The two states therefore represented different decisions about attention. Opening the phone was no longer required for every interaction.

That is a more useful design question than folding for its own sake. A hinge adds complexity to an object; it needs to change how the object is used. Here, the exterior screen supplied a practical reason for the phone to remain in its smaller form.