The Motorola Razr 2024 and Razr Plus 2024 were announced not so long ago, with both running Android 14. That’s great for those who wanted to buy the new devices, but not so great for owners of last year’s models, the Razr 2023 and Razr Plus 2023, who had been waiting for almost a year without an update to Android 14 in sight.
Despite launching successors, Motorola hadn’t so much as mentioned when and if the older models would get the Android 14 update despite promising three years of Android OS updates and four years of security updates. This is a pity because the Razr 2023 and Razr Plus 2023 were both phones that we loved, with Mobile Editor Joe Maring writing that last year’s Razr Plus was his favorite phone of the year.
That changed earlier this week, as it seems that owners of both the Motorola Razr 2023 and Razr Plus 2023 are finally getting the Android 14 update. The news comes from 9to5Google, which found Reddit users claiming that they’ve gotten a notification and rollout of the update, complete with screenshots.
Motorola now seems to be officially rolling out the Android 14 update with the May 2024 security patch, though it doesn’t appear to be available to all users just yet.
The update includes some notable additions, especially to the Razr Plus 2023. According to the Reddit page, you can expect to see upgrades to the cover display, including support for an always-on display mode, just like what was introduced on the Razr 2024 and Razr Plus 2024. According to one user, it also appears that the LED will flash for unread notifications as well.
The rollout of the Android 14 update comes almost nine months after Google bought it to the Pixel phones, emphasizing just how far Motorola has to go to catch up in terms of software — a point we’ve written about before. Generally speaking, if you care about reliable updates, you want a Google Pixel or a Samsung flagship. But even by the standards of competitors like OnePlus, Motorola has lagged behind in the update field.
The good news is that Motorola has quietly put up a support page for the Android 14 features for the Razr 40/Razr 2023 series, so it’s likely that rollout may be coming soon as well, though there’s no indication about the international rollout just yet.
