Razer buys smartphone maker Nextbit

In a surprise announcement, Razer announced they bought smartphone maker Nextbit for an undisclosed sum. Nextbit will continue to operate as a standalone business unit but it's not clear what Razer's goal is. Sales of the Nextbit Robin phone, which relies heavily on cloud storage, have been halted but Razer promises to fulfill warranties for six more months and that software updates will be provided for one more year. Maybe Razer has some kind of brilliant plan, but for a casual observer like me this looks a lot like diworsefication.

Razer™, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today confirmed that it has acquired the majority of the assets of Nextbit Systems Inc. and has brought onboard the management and employees of the company. Financial details of the transaction, which closed earlier this month, were not disclosed.

“Nextbit is one of the most exciting companies in the mobile space,” says Razer Co-Founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan. “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.”

According to Razer, Nextbit will operate as a standalone business unit under its own management and apart from the ongoing business of its parent company. Furthermore, Nextbit will continue with product support and software updates for its Robin smartphone.

“In order to reach a wider audience and continue our mission, we decided to join with a larger brand,” says Tom Moss, Nextbit Systems Inc. Co-Founder and CEO. “We’re lucky to have found a company in Razer that shares our value of pushing the boundaries of what our devices can do.”