Razer phone on way – gamers buy Nextbit
Have you been waiting for a real gaming phone? Well, it looks like gaming hardware company, Razer, might be squaring up to produce such a thing. Well, they’ve just gone and bought Nextbit, the makers of the cloud-centric Robin phone.
If you’re not familiar with the Robin phone here’s a bit of background.
Nextbit Robin
The Robin started life off as a Kickstarter project. It was a popular idea and managed to raise over $1.3 million.
It’s main selling point was that it promised to “never run out of storage.”
That, combined with a unique design and affordable price tag, made it a solid first effort for Nextbit.
Nextbit is joining the @Razer family! Now we’ll have more resources for more exciting (rebellious) projects. https://t.co/rC6Oww7TMO pic.twitter.com/HJScaIlVfS
— Nextbit (@nextbitsys) January 30, 2017
Razer phone
Now that Razer has slipped in to the driving seat, the company has much bigger financial backing for future projects.
This will also make it Razer’s first steps into the mobile market.
This doesn’t mean that this is the end for Nexbit though. According to a blog post:
Nextbit will operate as an independent division inside Razer, focused on unique mobile design and experiences. To put it simply, we’ll be doing exactly what we’ve been doing all along, only bigger and better.
The next step
Even though Nextbit has said it will be business as usual, it looks like its focus has already changed.
Nextbit says it has stopped selling the Robin and accessories, and that it will continue to fulfill warranties for six more months.
As the phone was released in July 2016, that pretty much means that only the very first adopters will enjoy a full year-long warranty.
Software-wise, Nextbit will provide updates and patches through to February 2018.
It’s easy to get carried away but Razer’s purchase of Nextbit doesn’t mean that there’ll be a Razer phone anytime soon.
All I can say that their emphasis on “mobile design and experiences,” strongly suggests that there could be.
Nextbit was founded by former HTC and Android employees – so their smartphone mojo is strong.
