Netflix is coming to the Razer Phone—in HDR
If you were looking for another way to watch Netflix, today's your lucky day.
Razer announced Tuesday that it has partnered with Netflix to allow owners of its flagship smartphone, the Razer Phone, to stream their favorite TV shows in HDR and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.
The Razer Phone will be the first smartphone to support premium audio and video formats for Netflix.
Future Razer phones will come pre-loaded with a Netflix app designed specifically for the Razer. The home screen will also include a widget with shortcuts to users' favorite shows.
For current Razer Phones, the company will release a software update later this month that includes the Netflix app and home widget. It will also feature firmware improvements to your screen and sound, so all videos will look and sound better, whether or not they're on Netflix.
However, there's one catch: You have to be subscribed to Netflix's premium plan to watch in HDR. This plan is $13.99 per month: $6 per month more than the streaming service's basic plan, which only allows streaming in standard definition, and $3 per month more than the standard plan, which enables HD and UHD.
This price may seem steep. But anyone who spends $700 on the Razer Phone is clearly willing to shell out for mobile entertainment. Another $168 to watch Stranger Things in HDR may be a drop in the bucket.
When it comes to mobile entertainment, few companies can top Razer.
The Singaporean company just unveiled a clamshell device that turns your Razer phone into a laptop for even more immersive mobile gaming. And the triple-screen laptops it unveiled last year were so awesome that they were stolen from the company's booth at last year's CES.
The Razer phone has been well known as an entertainment powerhouse since its release, with top-notch speakers and display making it ideal for gaming and video. The HDR and 5.1 designations solidify the phone's place as a high-end entertainment system.
And this partnership is a big win for Netflix, which is currently in an intense war with Disney and Amazon. A large base of gamers will soon have Netflix's content featured front and center on their phones. At least some of those users will spring for its premium service.
Netflix has big plans for partnerships across several industries. The company announced in September that it hopes to partner with airlines to improve in-flight Wi-Fi speeds, and it periodically works with major retailers like Target to promote its shows.
Topics Amazon Prime Video CES Disney Netflix
Monica wrote for Mashable's Tech section with a focus on retail, internet of things, and the intersections of technology and social justice. She holds a degree in creative writing from Brown University, and has previously written for Dow Jones Media, the New York Post, Yahoo Finance, and others. In her free time, she can be found attempting to cook Asian food, buying board games, and looking for new hobbies.
