Ces 2026: Motorola with Signature and Razr series goes after young audiences and creatives

Motorola, with the Fold, has officially opened the hunt for the top of the premium segment. All the novelties

by Luca Tremolada

7 January 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Once upon a time there was the clamshell phone that took honest selfies and ended up in the pockets of teenagers because of its garish colour. Today, that same Motorola has decided to stop following in the wake of others and try to draw its own curve. The numbers speak for themselves: 60 per cent of their buyers today are under 35 years old. Translated: Motorola wants to get back to being a brand that kids want to pull out of their pockets. And now, with the launch of the new Signature series and the Razr Fold, they are aiming straight at the heart of the premium segment, the one where margins are high and competition is a jungle.

Motorola's bend on folding

Nicole Higgin, head of product marketing, was clear at a closed-door pre-CES event: the Razr now controls over 50 per cent of the foldable market. A figure that would put Korean competitors to shame. To raise the bar comes the Razr Fold: a 6.6-inch external display that, when unfolded, becomes an 8.1-inch tablet.

And then there is the Signature Series.

Here we are in the 'Quiet Luxury' camp. No plastic: brushed aircraft aluminium and fabric trim inspired by Pantone colours such as Martini Olive. The real gem? The Motorola Concierge. An app that books you dinner at the most exclusive club in 50 different cities. You're not buying a phone, you're paying to have a butler in the silicon.

The real news is not just aesthetics. Under the bonnet of the new models beats the heart of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a chip that promises a 35 per cent jump in energy efficiency. But the real 'muscle' is the photo compartment. Motorola has stuffed four 50-megapixel sensors into an ultra-thin body.

The real challenge is no longer just how fast the processor is, but how thin the design is without exploding the battery. The new Motorola signature is an exercise in style: less than 7 millimetres thick. Inside, however, beats a marathon runner's heart: a 5200 mAh silicon-carbon battery. For the uninitiated: it's like putting the motor of a Tesla into a racing bike

The star is the Sony Lythia 808 sensor. For the uninitiated: imagine a digital retina capable of handling a dynamic range of 100 dB. It means that if you photograph a sunset, you will no longer have a white sky and a black foreground, but you will see details in both. In addition, it debuts the brand's first periscope zoom (3x optical, up to 100x digital). It's the end of the era of 'jumbled' pixels when trying to zoom in from the grandstand of a concert

The ecosystem (and a bit of AI, which never hurts)

There is no longer just the phone. Motorola is building its own walled garden. They put a lot of emphasis on this during their presentation at Ces. It joins the Moto Watch family with dual frequency GPS and Polar technology for those who take fitness seriously. And Moto Sound Flow: A 30W speaker with sound curated by Bose. Animating this ecosystem is Motorola Kira, the unified artificial intelligence that promises to eliminate friction between devices. Chicago's stated goal is ambitious: to avoid the user having to constantly bounce between dozens of different apps to find a note or reminder. Kira knows what you were doing on your Lenovo laptop and presents it to you on the Razr Fold's display exactly where you left off.

It is a deep integration that transforms luxury into everyday utility, making the device not just a status symbol in silk or twill finishes, but a companion that anticipates the needs of its user. Motorola has ceased to be a lightweight: with the Fold, it has officially opened the hunt for the top of the premium segment.

And finally, the Ai-first Poc of all.

Motorola unveiled Project Maxwell, a prototype Perceptive AI Companion developed by Motorola's 312 Labs. In appearance, it is a pendant that can also be worn on the lapel of a jacket. It watches, listens and speaks, using the smartphone as a computing base. He means that using Kira, Lenovo's Ai suite, it can translate into all languages in real time, apirire maps and show you where to go. We don't know when and if it will arrive in Italy. But it is the thing we are all somewhat expecting.

Luca TremoladaGiornalista
- @lucatremolada
- LinkedIn
Luogo: Milano via Monte Rosa 91
Lingue parlate: Inglese, Francese
Argomenti: Tecnologia, scienza, finanza, startup, dati
Premi: Premio Gabriele Lanfredini sull’informazione; Premio giornalistico State Street, categoria "Innovation"; DStars 2019, categoria journalism
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