Razer Phone review: 5.7' QHD screen with up to 120Hz refresh rate provides great gameplay experience, good battery life, but camera is mediocre for a $700 phone
Context & Ripple Effects
A month after Razer's launch-specs reveal — 120Hz 1440p display, 8GB RAM, Snapdragon 835, $699 price — Engadget's verdict lands: the screen and 4,000mAh battery deliver on the gaming promise, but the camera doesn't justify flagship money. The review is effectively the first real test of whether a PC-peripherals brand can sell a phone.
The follow-through came fast: within a year Razer shipped a sequel whose Phone 2 hands-on shows upgraded cameras and Qi wireless charging — direct answers to this review's weak spots — while Asus's later ROG Phone 8 series shows the high-refresh gaming-phone niche Razer opened is still being contested.
First-order effects
- $700 buyers choosing between Razer's first phone and mainstream flagships now have a clear trade-off on record: best-in-class motion clarity and battery life versus a camera that lags the price tier.
Second-order effects
- Razer's own roadmap bends to the critique — the Phone 2 arrives a year later with higher-resolution cameras and wireless charging, the two gaps this review exposed.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, gaming phones survive as a durable sub-brand strategy where display refresh rate, not camera optics, is the differentiator — a lane Asus's ROG line and Qualcomm's own Snapdragon-branded handset both later entered.
The trend: PC-gaming brands are extending into smartphones by competing on refresh rate and battery rather than camera quality, carving out a gaming-phone niche that rivals keep validating.