A20 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 , 2019
screen and hinge will last at
least two years of regular use.
(Unlike Samsung’s Fold, there’s
no gap when you close up the
Razr, which should help protect
the screen from detritus.) We
won’t really know how well this
one stands up until people try
storing it in grubby, linty, sandyits own version in its $2,
Fold phone, which arrived in
September with some
embarrassing durability
problems.
Important questions linger
about the longevity of these first
folding-screen devices, but
Motorola said it is confident itsreader, speakers and antennas.
All this is possible because the
Razr is one of the first phones to
take advantage of a new
generation of bendable-screen
technology. It works because the
pixels are super-super tiny, and
covered in a kind of plastic
rather than glass. Samsung usedslipped into any of my boy
pockets.
Though it’s wider than the
original, the new Razr is,
impressively, just as thin. And
opened up, it also still has a
thicker “chin” at the bottom to
grab on to. That’s where
Motorola stuck the fingerprintEconomy & Business
TECHNOLOGY
Cisco revenue forecast
falls below estimates
Cisco Systems on Wednesday
forecast second-quarter revenue
and profit below estimates as the
network gearmaker struggles to
shift to a software-focused
company from its business of
selling routers and switches,
sending shares down 4 percent.
Analysts have been worried
about the effect of the U.S.-China
trade war on the company’s sale
of switches and routers, as some
of these are made in China.
Cisco had said in the past
quarter that U.S. tariffs and
Chinese customers shunning its
network gear was hurting its
business.
The company said it expects
revenue in the current quarter
to drop by 3 percent to 5 percentfrom a year earlier to between
$12.07 billion to $11.82 billion.
Analysts were expecting revenue
of $12.77 billion, according to
IBES data from Refinitiv.
The company has been
moving its focus to newer areas
such as software and
cybersecurity to counter slowing
demand for its routers and
switches as companies
increasingly opt for cloud-based
services offered by Amazonand Microsoft.
— ReutersENTERTAINMENTDisney Plus draws
10 million customersWalt Disney reached a record
high in Wednesday trading after
its new video-streaming
platform attracted 10 million
customers, a blistering pace thatreflects the strength of the
family-friendly brand in an
increasingly crowded market.
The service, Disney Plus, was
made available Tuesday in the
United States and Canada,
though the company had been
offering it earlier in the
Netherlands as a test. Rabid fans
also have had months to
preorder the service at a
discounted rate. Still, the
10 million figure surprisedanalysts, who had expected
Disney to take much longer to
reach that level.
The stock climbed as much as
6.8 percent, shaking off an early
decline. That was the biggest
intraday rally in seven months.
Netflix shares fell 3.7 percent as
its investors assess how big a
threat Disney Plus will be.
Disney also made headway in
fixing glitches after a rocky start.
— Bloomberg NewsDIGEST
○
DOW 27,783.
UP 92.10 ,0.3% ○NASDAQ 8,482.
DOWN 3.99 ,0.05% ○S&P 500 3,094.
UP 2.20 ,0.1% ○GOLD $1,463.
UP $9.60, 0.7% ○CRUDE OIL $57.
UP $0.32, 0.6% ○10-YEAR TREASURY
UP $3.80 PER $1,000; 1.89% YIELDCURRENCIES
$1= 108.85 YEN, 0.91 EUROSBY TAYLOR TELFORD
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome
H. Powell told Congress’s Joint
Economic Committee on Wednes-
day that he saw “no reason” the
economic expansion can’t contin-
ue and that the central bank has
no imminent plans for further in-
terest rate cuts, despite ongoing
pressure from President Trump.
Powell’s comments came
24 hours after Trump bashed the
Fed for not slashing interest rates
more. Trump suggested the Fed
lower interest rates so much that
they would effectively be negative,
a rare phenomenon that could
lead banks to pay people for taking
out loans. Asked about this, Powell
largely dismissed the idea and
said it would “certainly not be
appropriate” in the current eco-
nomic environment.
The last time the Fed cut rates to
zero was during the Great Reces-
sion, and it has never adopted
negative rates, even during the
1930s when one-quarter of the
labor force was idle.
“You tend to see negative rates
in larger economies at times when
growth is quite low and inflation is
quite low,” Powell said. “It’s just
not the case here.”
The contrast between the ap-
proaches that Powell and Trump
have regarding the Fed were on
vivid display. Fed officials have
lowered interest rates three times
this year in what they hope will
encourage more economic activi-ty, but they are now pausing in
part because they believe the
economy has stabilized. Trump
wants interest rates to be lower
because he thinks it will make the
economy even stronger, and he
said there is no sign that the econ-
omy is facing the prospect of infla-
tion from low rates.
The Dow Jones industrial aver-
age hit its ninth all-time high of
the year Tuesday and is up 51 per-
cent since Election Day 2016.
Trump claimed the markets would
have risen by an additional 25 per-
cent if the Federal Reserve had
kept interest rates lower.
“We are actively competing
with nations who openly cut inter-
est rates so that now many are
actually getting paid when theypay off their loan, known as nega-
tive interest,” Trump said in re-
marks at the Economic Club of
New York. “Give me some of that
money,” he continued. “I want
some of that money.”
The economic outlook has
changed significantly since Pow-
ell’s last appearance on Capitol
Hill in mid-July. In late summer,
some models were predicting a
50-50 chance of a U.S. recession in- But the recent upswing has
shored up faith in the expansion,
and many top Wall Street firms are
telling clients the risk of a reces-
sion next year is modest. Goldman
Sachs puts the risk level at 24 per-
cent. Morgan Stanley says
“around 20” percent. Barclays says
less than 10 percent.
In his assessment of the econo-
my, Powell cited historic low un-
employment and strong consum-
er spending as factors that are
keeping his outlook upbeat. He
did flag some risks, however.
Trade uncertainty has eaten into
business investment and manu-
facturing, and sluggish global
growth continues to be a head
wind. Weak business investment
has created a drag on growth this
year, but Powell said he doesn’t
expect a downturn. He attributed
some of the economy’s recent
strength to the Fed’s campaign to
lower rates this year.
Powell’s appearance Wednes-
day was the first of two consecu-
tive days on Capitol Hill. On
Thursday, he is expected to facemore questions about his econom-
ic outlook. He cautioned Wednes-
day that the Fed would be willing
to adjust its approach if the econo-
my showed signs of stress in com-
ing months.
The recent spate of benchmark
rate cuts has left the Fed’s hands
somewhat tied if the country does
face another downturn, Powell
said. He said the Fed has less flexi-
bility to continue cutting if Fed
officials are looking for ways to
juice the economy. On average, the
Fed has cut rates 5 percent in
postwar recessions, Powell said.
But in the “new normal” of lower
rates, lower inflation and lower
growth, the Fed doesn’t have “that
kind of room.”
[email protected]Fed chair brushes aside Trump’s call for negative interest rates
pockets and bags. Motorola says
it will repair broken parts within
the first year in the United
States, and screen replacements
after that will cost $300.
The Razr is available for
preorder in December. In the
United States, it will be sold by
Verizon and will arrive in stores
in January.
In the era of screen addiction,
I enjoy the idea of closing up a
smartphone. Shutting the Razr
means you’re done, and can go
about doing something other
than looking at your phone. The
new Razr also has a small
2.7-inch touch screen on the
front, which displays the time,
shows calls, music controls and
other basic functions. The
16-megapixel camera also sits
right underneath it.
But the ergonomics of the new
Razr are just different enough
from the original to be a
letdown. In your hand it feels
more chonky because of the
wider size. After an hour of
practice, I still couldn’t get my
one-handed close to produce a
satisfactory snap. The hinge that
protects the screen doesn’t have
the spring-loaded feel of the
original and requires more
pressure. It’s possible I’m out of
practice — a Motorola employee
showed me he could make it
snap with one hand.
Perhaps it’s ludicrous to judge
a $1,500 gadget on how much it
echoes the tactile feel of its
15-year-old predecessor. But
aside from the screen, the new
Razr’s appeal is more nostalgia
than cutting-edge tech. Other
phones that cost more than
$1,000 now have at least three
camera lenses — Razr has just
the one. (And in my early
preview, it seemed sluggish.)
Other premium flagship phones
have made inroads in battery
life. The new Razr’s battery
(which had to be split into two
different pieces) measures
2510 mAh, a third less than the
competition from Samsung and
others. And the Razr runs
Android 9.0, which was released
in 2018.
And then there’s that price
tag. The original Razr cost $600,
or about $800 in today’s dollars.
The new Razr is twice that —
and more than twice the $
price of an iPhone 11. That takes
the Razr out of contention as a
practical phone. It’s a status
symbol. And even the trip back
to 2004 makes it hard to justify.
The good news: The new Razr
is a sign that we’re reentering an
era of weird phones. Like the
mid-2000s, we’re going to see
lots of new technologies give rise
to new shapes and functions. It’s
a welcome relief from the seas of
me-too iPhone clones. I hope
this one is popular enough that
folding-screen tech gets cheaper
and makes it into phones with
more attainable prices.
[email protected]los angeles —
Hello, it’s your
flip phone from
2004 calling.
Remember back
when phones fit
into a shirt
pocket? And
closed up with a
thunk?
In December, Motorola is
planning a comeback of its oh-
so-thin flip phone, the Razr. But
this reboot is an Android
smartphone with a large touch
screen that folds in half. And
this Razr has a price that might
make you flip out: $1,500.
At an event Motorola held in
Los Angeles, I got to spend a
little time with the new Razr
ahead of its launch. I came away
impressed with the seamless,
bendable-screen tech — first
seen this fall on Samsung’s
Galaxy Fold — that’s enabling a
return to smaller phones. But
this particular design trades
heavily on a retro appeal that
doesn’t quite deliver in the era of
2019 ultraexpensive
smartphones.
Holding it with one hand, I
couldn’t even get this Razr to flip
closed with that satisfying snap.
You might say it’s no... slam
thunk.
No more puns, I promise.
Motorola has never recaptured
the household name status it
had in the 2000s when the Razr
was the best-selling flip phone.
After being bought and then
sold by Google, now it’s owned
by Chinese hardware maker
Lenovo. Today its smartphones
have a small share of the U.S.
market.
But bringing back the flip
phone isn’t only a desperate plea
to cash in on our affection for a
dearly departed brand. The
original Razr became popular, in
part because it was small — one
of the first phones you could
slide into your pocket. (See
Gordon Gekko’s handset in the
film “Wall Street” for a reminder
of how fat phones used to be.)
Well, 15 years later we have
come back around to an era
where some people are
struggling with giant phones.
Now they’re not fat, but tall and
wide. The latest Samsung Note
Plus has a whopping 6.8-inch
screen that’s essentially like
trying to shove an XL Hershey’s
bar into skinny jeans. There
used to be smaller smartphones,
such as Apple’s iPhone SE, but
they got dropped because
consumers keep choosing the
functionality of more screen
over comfort and ergonomics.
Enter a new idea: Could we
have it all... if the screen folded
in half? The new Razr has a
screen that measures 6.2 inches
on the diagonal — about the
same size as an iPhone 11. But it
shuts to be about half as tall, like
a phone doing the downward
dog in yoga. Closed up, it easily
Motorola’s Razr flip phone is returning — for $1,
Geoffrey
Fowler
PHOTOS BY MOTOROLA
Modeled after the popular 2000s flip phone, the new Motorola Razr uses folding technology to open up to a 6.2-inch screen.