Razer Announces Plans to Develop a Gaming Smartphone

Razer recently announced that the gaming company is planning on developing a special smartphone geared entirely towards gaming in the near future.

While Razer is often recognized for their gaming accessories such as mice, keyboards, headsets, and other products geared towards avid gamers, it seems that they're now making the plunge into mobile hardware as well. The company's CEO and co-founder Min-Liang Tin appeared on CNBC's Managing Asia to discuss what the company had planned for the expansion of their Chinese market where mobile gaming is a booming field. Tin said that they plan to capitalize on that mobile market with their upcoming project with their new smartphone.

"Mobile gaming is getting massive everywhere - US, Europe, China - and we hope to have products to serve the mobile gamer everywhere in the world," Tin said.

The smartphone project from Razer is a product that's been hinted at before through rumors and other speculation, and during the announcements, Tin confirmed that the ambition is most definitely happening.

"One of the most hotly rumored things about Razer is that we're coming up with a mobile device," Tin added. "And I can say that we are coming up with a mobile device specifically geared toward gamers and entertainment."

The timeframe for when the phone will be released isn't set in stone at the moment, but Tin did provide a rough estimation. He said that Razer hopes to have the smartphone be available by the end of the year in 2018 and said that it was something that's already being worked on to bring to market.

Razer also has a bit more freedom to pursue such interests with the company recently going public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. With few billion dollars estimated to come in from the business move, Tin said that they hope to spend more time creating new, innovative products.

"We would love to have that war chest to allow us to invest in R&D," he said. "We are known to have disrupted many industries."

More on the work-in-progress gaming smartphone will likely be revealed as Razer nails down more details, but how well it'll sell will likely depend on plenty of other factors.

[via gamesindustry.biz]