Razer, the company best known for its catalog of innovative accessories and peripherals designed for Mac and PC gamers, officially entered the smartphone market yesterday when it took the wraps off its intriguing new flagship device: Razer Phone.
Like most of 2017’s high-end smartphones not built by Apple, Razer Phone is powered by Qualcomm’s aging Snapdragon 835 CPU — which is pretty standard as far as processing and overall performance on Android is relevant..
For what it’s worth, though, Apple’s iPhone 8 Plus has proven itself a much more powerful contender in the CPU department, rendering the A11 Bionic-equipped flagship a stellar performer; particularly when it comes to processing graphically-intense games and advanced AR applications.
Yet Razer Phone still manages to shine amid a sea of high-end Android handsets, thanks in part to its myriad of advancements; such as being the first phone to boast a whopping 8 GB of RAM, THX-certified dual stereo speakers, and a gorgeous 5.7-inch Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO) LCD display.
It’s also the first smartphone to feature an impressive 120 Hz refresh-rate, which was a feature previously-exclusive to Apple’s newer iPad Pro models featuring PureMotion technology. Razer’s tech, meanwhile, which was developed in partnership with Qualcomm, is dubbed UltraMotion.
On paper, the Razer Phone certainly gives off the impression that it’s the next “iPhone killer,” doesn’t it? Worth noting, however, is that Apple’s iPhone is not (and never was) specifically advertised as a “gaming phone” — whereas Razer Phone, coming from the company who effectively revolutionized PC gaming, lends plenty of overtures to the fact that it’s very much a smartphone built with mobile gamers in mind.
Here are just a few other key differences between them:
- While the iPhone 8 Plus boasts a 5.5-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD at 1080 x 1920 pixels (401 ppi.), Razer Phone ups the ante to a slightly larger, 5.7-inch IGZO IPS LCD at 1440 x 2560 pixels (515 ppi.)
- Whereas iPhone 8 Plus is powered by Apple’s A11 Bionic hexa-core CPU, an Apple-designed three-core GPU, and boasts either 64/256 GB of SSD Storage and 3 GB of RAM, Razer Phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 eight-core CPU, Adreno 540 GPU, and 64 GB of storage coupled with an industry-leading 8GB of RAM.
- Additionally, while the iPhone 8 Plus features a pair of front-facing stereo speakers as well, the Razer Phone happens to be the first smartphone ever boasting dual front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos sound and THX certification — each with their own one-watt amp, to boot. Unsurprisingly, the company claims it’s the loudest smartphone handset ever, which we’ll just have to wait and hear to believe, right?
Bottom Line
At this point, the question remains: is Razer Phone a more capable gaming smartphone than iPhone 8 Plus? On paper, Razer Phone has one unfortunate disadvantage: despite boasting much more RAM and a few more impressive bells and whistles, it’s still powered by Qualcomm technology that’s on the cusp of obsolescence.
Razer Phone Release Date
The Razer Phone is available to pre-order now for just $699, and it’ll start shipping to consumers on November 17th.