Razer Acquires Cloud Phone Maker Nextbit, Stops Selling Robin

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The app maker turned smartphone manufacturer, Nextbit announced its first smartphone called Nextbit Robin in July 2015. The device was marketed as world’s first cloud first smartphone and came with some good integration of cloud storage. It then chose Kickstarter to get the funds of $1 million to make the prototype into a consumer product but ended up with $1.36 million after attracting 3,611 backers. The company’s first smartphone was successful after generating decent sales in the crowded smartphone market, and surprisingly it even landed up in the India.

However, now the company got acquired by the U.S based Gaming PC maker, Razer Inc. With this acquisition, Razer now diversifies its product category by adding smartphones. Nextbit also mentioned that it will remain as an independent entity and has its own product support and software updates. The company will no longer sell the Robin smartphone via its own channels but offers the security updates until February 2018. As a Razer company, Nextbit will be ended up with more resources for the development side, and its upcoming devices will reach much wider audiences.

Commenting on the occasion, Razer co-founder and CEO, Min-Liang Tan, said,

“Nextbit is one of the most exciting companies in the mobile space. Razer has a track record of disrupting industries where our technology and ability to design and innovate have allowed us to dominate categories with longstanding incumbents, such as the peripherals and laptop categories. With the talent that Nextbit brings to Razer, we look forward to unleashing more disruption and growing our business in new areas.”

While Razer has recently made headlines with its Project Valerie that was showcased at the CES 2017. It is gaming laptop with two additional 4K displays, and now the company also offer a wide range of gaming devices and accessories. While there is no clue about the upcoming products from Nexbit, it will be interesting to see a gaming smartphone that also carries the cloud integration feature. Since the Nextbit Robin is sold via Flipkart in India, the device is still available to purchase and might be there until the stock lasts.

It is also unofficially confirmed that there would be no Robin 2 smartphone and the company is yet to announce about their future products. There is no information mentioned about its in-house Nextbit OS that runs on the Android OS. Stay tuned on PhoneRadar for more details about this acquisition.

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