The Razer Phone is official, billed as the handset for gamers, as the covers have just been taken off the computing firm’s first ever smartphone at its launch event in London.

In fact, the launch event is still going on, and we’ll be updating this page live with all the latest on the Razer Phone.

We’ll also be getting hands on with the handset in a short while, so keep an eye out for our hands on: Razer Phone review which will be with you later on.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? Razer’s first smartphone
• When is it out? Announced today, release date TBC
• What will it cost? Probably a lot

Display

• 5.7-inch QHD LCD display
• Supports up to 120fps for fluid gaming

The Razer Phone has a 5.72-inch QHD (1440 x 2560) LCD display with a wide color gamut and a 120Hz refresh rate, ensuring that it’s finely tuned for gaming performance.

It’s the only smartphone display in the world to offer this level of refresh rate, but the Razer Phone is smart enough to know when to apply the maximum level and when it can take things a bit easier, which should save on battery life.

The LCD panel has allowed Razer to reach this refresh rate on its first ever smartphone, but it does mean the screen lacks a little of the colorful pop you find in AMOLED panels.

Razer Phone speakers

The Razer Phone comes with two, big front-facing speakers which have been tuned to Dolby Atmos standards for excellent audio performance, and it’s the world’s first phone to be certified by THX.

Each speaker also has its own amp, and together they can provide 3D virtualization of sound, meaning it should sound just as good from behind as in front.

A 24-bit DAC, also certified by THX, is provided for headphone input, to provide boosted audio when you’re not using the built in speakers.

Razer Phone performance

The Razer Phone packs in the latest power with a Snapdragon 835 chipset and 8GB RAM – allowing you to run high-power apps (Twitch, YouTube, game) with no lag/slow down.

Developing….

Razer Phone rumors from before the launch event

Razer Phone release date and price

The Razer Phone is set to be announced today, November 1, with Razer teasing the launch on its website and sending out invites for an event taking place in London.

How soon after the announcement you’ll be able to buy the Razer Phone, or how much it will cost, also remain a mystery for now.

However, we’d expect the Razer Phone price to be high, as leaked specs suggest it will be a flagship handset, so we’d imagine you’ll have to pay upwards of $700 (£600, AU$1,000).

Razer Phone design and screen

Hottest leaks:

• A blocky design
• A 5.7-inch QHD screen

So far we’ve only seen one leaked image of the Razer Phone and it doesn’t show the full handset. 

The shot, apparently obtained by an unnamed insider and shared by TechByte, shows just half of the back of the phone, but we can make out some details from that.

It has a blocky, angular design, very similar to the Nextbit Robin, which is no surprise, since Razer has purchased Nextbit.

It’s shown in black here and while it may come in other colors it’s possible that black will be the only option, as Razer is fond of that color. Oddly though there’s no sign of the green that Razer also tends to use on its products.

The rear is plain other than a large white Razer logo. It’s hard to tell what the Razer Phone is made out of, but given the likely high-end specs we’d expect a metal or glass case rather than a plastic one.

Other visible details include a dual-lens camera and two small buttons on the left edge, likely to control the volume.

There are no images of the screen, but a GFXBench listing suggests it will have a 5.7-inch 1,440 x 2,560 one. 

That’s a conventional QHD resolution, suggesting the Razer Phone will probably have a 16:9 aspect ratio, rather than opting for a more widescreen design like the Samsung Galaxy S8 and some other recent handsets.

A more recent leak suggests the display will have a 120Hz refresh rate, which would result in super smooth animations and an improved user experience when interacting with the screen.

TechRadar’s take: We’ve only seen one image of the phone so it could well be wrong, but it looks convincing, given the Nextbit Robin-like design. The screen specs are also believable if this is to be a flagship phone.

Razer Phone camera and battery

Hottest leaks:

The one benchmark we’ve seen for the Razer Phone lists a 12MP rear camera, though there’s no mention of a dual-lens one, even though the picture we’ve seen seems to have a dual-lens camera.

The benchmark also lists a 4K video camera and an 8MP front-facing camera, though other than HDR and a flash on the rear camera there’s no word on what capabilities and modes these cameras will have.

As for the battery, that remains unknown for now, but we’d expect to see a reasonably large one if the Razer Phone is to be positioned at gamers, which is likely given the company’s heritage.

TechRadar’s take: A dual-lens 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing one are fairly standard flagship specs, so they’re believable.

Razer Phone other features

Hottest leaks:

• 64GB of storage
• Cloud gaming

The only other spec we’ve seen listed for the Razer Phone (again in that benchmark) is 64GB of storage, but there are some possible features we can guess at.

For one thing, given that Razer owns Nextbit it would make sense for the company to use one of the most interesting ideas found in the Nextbit Robin, namely the ability to offload files and even apps to the cloud, so that less internal storage is used.

We’ve theorized before that Razer may even take it a step further and allow you to stream games from the cloud, which as well as freeing up space would potentially allow the Razer Phone to run more demanding games than many handsets, since much of the horsepower could also be provided by the cloud.

Given the gaming focus Razer may also look at providing proper gaming controls, rather than just a touchscreen. If it does these could be additional hardware buttons, but would more likely take the form of a detachable controller.

Or perhaps you’d even be able to pair the Razer Phone with Razer’s gaming keyboards, giving you near endless hardware buttons.

TechRadar’s take: Hardware buttons and cloud gaming are simply speculation for now, but it would make sense for Razer to leverage the cloud to some extent, given that it’s gone to the trouble of acquiring a company with experience in that area.