Motorola's rebirthed Razr foldable smartphone leaked online

A second screen on the front of the phone will likely only show notifications and other info. Photo / Twitter

Pictures purporting to show the hotly anticipated revival of the iconic Motorola Razr phone have been leaked online ahead of an expected official unveiling later this month.

The new Motorola Razr is expected to take the form of a vertically folding smartphone that retains the aesthetic of the hit design from the mid-2000s, differing from already released and announced folding smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X which both unfold horizontally, reports News.com.au.

Motorola sent invitations to US media outlets last month for a November 13 event believed to be for the folding Razr.

The invitation features a cryptic image of a device that looks similar to the Razr, and the somewhat less cryptic warning to press that they're "going to flip" when they see what the company has in store at the "highly-anticipated unveiling of a reinvented icon".

But Motorola has had its thunder stolen after images believed to be Motorola Razr were reportedly leaked online by renowned leaker Evan Blass through his private Twitter account, despite Mr Blass "retiring" from his leaking career in 2014.

The images, if accurate, give some detail about the folding Razr, showing its similarly iconic design as well as a second screen on the front of the device.

This second screen is much smaller and will likely only be useful for viewing notifications or as a preview display for selfies.

Iconic design aside, Motorola's upcoming foldable could prove a hit for the company if it gets it right.

Foldable phones make larger screens more manageable. Photo / Twitter

Foldable smartphones are shaping up as the next evolution of smartphones.

When the iPhone first launched in 2007 it had a comparatively tiny 3.5-inch screen, a size it retained for five years even as rival Android phones got considerably larger.

In 2012 the iPhone 5, the first to be announced after the death of Steve Jobs, bumped the screen size up to 4-inch, and two years later it jumped to 4.7-inch on the iPhone 6.

The iPhone 6 Plus released at the same time had a 5.5-inch display, and the current iPhone 11 now has a 6.1-inch display.

Advances in display technology that allow screens to stretch all the way to the edge of the phone, eliminating the need for big bezels, means most phones now come with displays between 5.5-inch and 6.7-inch.

But although a larger screen is useful for viewing content, some are unhappy that the size expansion makes modern phones more difficult to fit in their pocket or use with one hand.

Foldable phones seek to solve this problem by allowing for smaller devices that unfold to reveal a larger screen.

Samsung was the first to market a foldable with the Galaxy Fold, but it wasn't exactly a smooth rollout.

The initial release that was scheduled for April this year was pushed back after review units started exhibiting device-destroying faults after just a couple days of use.

Samsung took the phone back and redesigned them, strengthening the screen and hinge and tightening gaps that allowed dust and other debris to find its way under the display.

It finally released the phone in its home country Korea in September, followed by subsequent releases around the world.