According to statements made in gaming hardware manufacturer Razer’s most recent interim financial report, the company is already hard at work on the Razer Phone 2 and coinciding new software features. Neither of those are very well-defined for the time being. However, both are said to be the primary focus of the firm’s research and development due to the impact the original Razer Phone had on its overall sales. Although the handset was released in a “limited run,” the report highlights, it accounted for a significant portion of the company’s “others” business. Specifically, that grew by 432.3-percent year-over-year to land at $16.5 million in terms of revenue and those figures centered largely around the Razer Phone. It also sparked off a new category for smartphones, according to the report. That’s going to make the device a top priority for the company as it looks to capitalize on its position as a first mover in that sphere of the Android handset market.
With regard to new software and service features, the company simply states that it plans to “extend” those found on PC platforms and bring them to mobile. That’s relatively vague but could mean anything from ensuring the software can handle the games and software offered by partner companies. It could also indicate that the company plans to bring direct-from-PC streaming of games to its dedicated gaming handset or that its mobile device might be usable as a controller for PC games, among other possibilities. There’s simply no way to know for sure as of this writing and too many plausible outcomes to reconcile pending an official clarification.
In the meantime, speculation has already begun to swirl about the proposed Razer follow-up. Based on the previous design, it is expected to feature a Snapdragon 845 SoC accompanied by a minimum of 8GB RAM and a display with a refresh rate of at least 120Hz. A battery upgrade is also suspected to be part of the package, along with overall design updates such as a reduction of bezel size and stereo speakers for a more immersive gaming experience. Given the expectation of a late 2018 announcement and those surrounding Qualcomm’s Q4 2018 mass production of the Snapdragon 855, Razer might also opt to include an even more advanced chipset. However, it is far more likely that the current top-tier chip will be used instead.