Prolific PC accessories maker, and the latest entry into the smartphone market, Razer has teamed up with the Spanish esports team Team Queso. The partnership centers around Razer acting as a sponsor for the mobile-only team and will be ongoing for the next two years. As part of the deal, Team Queso will be using Razer’s gaming smartphone, the Razer Phone, in all competitive games and will be given access to Razer peripherals and equipment to use as well. Those are said to include keyboards and mice, headsets, and play surfaces at the pro-tournament, top-of-the-line end of Razer’s products. The competitions the team takes part in include Clash Royale, Vainglory, Arena of Valor, and Hearthstone, and they have a relatively large following in the esports industry around the world. No financial details about the partnership have been released but that means Razer is going to get a substantial amount of marketing.
Whether or not using Razer’s smartphones and accessories gives the team an edge remains to be seen. With that said, the current title holders for the ESWC Paris Clan Wars champions could certainly have chosen a worse manufacturer to enter a deal with. Razer introduced its Razer phone late in 2017 as the world’s first truly game-centric handset and, in that regard, it has arguably overcome all of the competition. Tucked in behind a 5.7-inch IGZO LCD display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a QHD+ resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, the Razer Phone packs a punch thanks to a massive 8GB of RAM and Snapdragon 835 SoC. This is one smartphone designed to dominate in the mobile end of the high-stakes world of esports with a virtually lag-free experience delivered via a high-detail display. So it makes sense that Team Queso would choose Razer as its partner handset maker. Those specs are further backed up by a generous storage capacity at 64GB and a large 4,000mAh battery. All of that drives a near-stock iteration of Google’s Android 7.1.1 Nougat. On top of those specs, the inclusion of stereo front-facing speakers and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound capability makes for an immersive gaming experience all around.
Meanwhile, Razer is also reportedly working on a second generation for its top-spec smartphone – tentatively called the Razer Phone 2. Presumably, the team will be able to upgrade to that device if and when it releases. If its first attempt at building a gaming-specific phone is any indication, that handset should prove very useful to Team Queso.