Book-style foldables have been my daily phones for the past few years and, as we enter a new chapter, Motorola has delivered the Razr Fold as its long-awaited entry to the space. Put simply, it’s far better than I expected, but I also worry it may have arrived a bit too late.
Having now used the Motorola Razr Fold for about a month, I’m pretty firmly of the opinion that, at this exact moment in time, this is the best foldable you can buy in the US.
That starts with the hardware, which is excellent across the board. Drawing on inspiration from its Edge devices and the flip-phone Razr, the Razr Fold has a stylish backplate with a curve up to its extended camera bump, and a relatively thin profile. It’s only marginally thicker than my Galaxy Z Fold 7, but makes up for that in other ways. The frame, for instance, is slightly curved inwards at the edges, making the device easier to open. It is a bit hefty, though, at 243g. It’s not unbearable by any means, but it’s a big difference from the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
The “Lily White” colorway is frankly gorgeous in person, if not as striking as the playful colors on the standard Razr lineup. The backplate is textured and just grippy enough without going overboard, while the slight gold tint of the frame is a nice contrast that all adds up to a positively svelte look.
As mentioned in my first impressions, the Razr Fold opens up to a pretty expansive 8.1-inch display which, thankfully, has a pretty reasonable display crease. This is no Oppo Find N6, but after a month of use the crease is still roughly on par with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is firmly in the “this is fine” camp.
The display itself is vibrant and bright, as is the outer panel. I’m not huge on the curved edges of the outward-facing 6.6-inch display, but it’s a minor nitpick on an otherwise solid package.
Both displays support the Motorola Pen Ultra, a $99 stylus that, well, I never found myself wanting to use – I even forgot to bring it with me for this review’s photoshoot, oops!
I’m glad a stylus option exists for this device, but the thick carrying case for a pen that’s ultimately way too tiny to feel “real” just took away all desire for me to keep this thing on my person. If you get it as a freebie, you’ll like it, but I don’t find myself wanting to tell anyone to spend an extra hundred dollars on this.
Moving into the software, you’re running Android 16 out of the box with the promise of 7 years of Android OS and security updates.
Motorola makes no promises on when those updates will arrive, and history says major updates will take months, but it’s a longer commitment than even the standard Razr’s get, so it’s hard to complain. The experience as a whole is clean and has thoughtful additions, such as the long-standing gestures Motorola has offered for over a decade – “chop” for flashlight is always a treat. There are also optimizations for this being a foldable, such as a tent mode that shows ambient information on the always-on display, such as currently playing media.
There’s also a “Laptop Mode” that turns half of the display into a touchpad, but it’s practically worthless due to the camera bump and weight distribution – you’re either using a telegraph or putting your cover display face down, all while trying to balance the phone so it doesn’t fall over. The idea is nice and the software works well, but the hardware just doesn’t allow it to work to its potential.
My favorite thing is the multitasking, as Motorola has built on Android 16’s 90:10 split with a Rolodex-style app switcher that’s just such a nice way to use this canvas.
Outside of the update situation, the biggest downside on software is just that Motorola, while it doesn’t pack its phones with absurd amounts of bloatware, has been on a slippery slope in terms of software decisions. While I was using this phone, a random Motorola app update hijacked the Amazon app for the sake of stealing affiliate revenue. “Unintended” or not, that’s unacceptable on any device, even more so a $1,900 smartphone
That should put me off a bit more, but other aspects of the package still managed to win me over.
Performance, for one, is great. The Razr Fold is using the step-down Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, but you’d never know. Everything is smooth and snappy, without any hangups in day-to-day use. Even when running through several apps, it’s just fast, and it does that without overheating as my Galaxy Z Fold 7 frequently does. Spec nerds are quick to complain about the chipset decision here given the price point, but, believe it or not, Motorola might have known more than they did – Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 was a good call.
The other aspect that won me over here was the camera setup. Motorola simply nailed it. Every lens on the Razr Fold is able to capture stunning shots, with the color science being the main highlight. Everything is vibrant and colorful without feeling like an exaggeration of real life. In a world of incredibly drab smartphone cameras, this was refreshing – especially for a foldable, which typically make major sacrifices in the camera department. But the extended camera bump and the use of three 50MP sensors on the back worked out wonderfully.
That’s not to say there aren’t shortcomings. Portrait mode is iffy at best, and most of the work is done in processing, leading to previews that look far worse than the final shot. But that processing is pretty consistent, more often leading to good shots than bad. Zoom is maybe the biggest complaint, as there’s some AI being used to fill in the gaps that can occasionally go off the rails when you go beyond 10x. Turning off “Super Zoom Pro” seems to help.
Finally, there’s the battery life.
Motorola stuffed a 6,000 mAh battery inside of the Razr Fold, more than making up for the weight. Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, this is a breath of fresh air. The battery easily lasts a full day of whatever I throw at this phone, and it charges fast enough (up to 80W) that I don’t find myself needing to charge it overnight. I’m usually just topping it off in the car or at my desk, or even just on my nightstand as I prepare for the day.
The Motorola Razr Fold is the best foldable you can buy in the US. It doesn’t beat out every international option – the Oppo Find N6 ranks pretty highly for me – but it’s far and away a better choice in day-to-day experience compared to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7. At $1,899, its pricing feels reasonable, though I look forward to when the inevitable discounts bring that down a peg.
That said, the one problem is the timing.
I fear Motorola has waited too long to release this device.
For one, we’re less than two months from the debut of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 series, which is set to deliver some major fixes such as upping the battery capacity. The new wider Fold 8 is also going to be an appealing form factor for many.
On top of that, there’s the looming arrival of Apple’s first foldable. While Android devices will benefit from the legitimacy that an “iPhone Fold” will bring to the foldable market, it’s also going to bury anyone who didn’t get a head start. Motorola not only needs to convince prospective foldable buyers that it has a better option than Samsung and Google – which I feel it does – but also not to wait for Apple’s release, a conversation we wouldn’t have had if Motorola had launched this device a year ago, or even back in January when it was first unveiled.
I remain pretty shocked at how good the Razr Fold is – Motorola stuck the landing in every important way on this device, but only time will tell if it worked out.
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