The competition
The first book-style Razr is officially available and it marks a new chapter for Motorola. While the spiritual successor to the iconic Razr clamshell, Razr 70 Ultra, is in its seventh generation already, the Razr Fold is the first entry of this new series.
Motorola is already proficient in foldables, so it’s no surprise that the first Razr Fold offers great hardware. But it literally has everything – premium design, superb screens, great performance, top-notch cameras, incredibly long battery life, and most importantly – one of the richest yet cleanest software packages you can get right now.
The Razr Fold launched at €1,999, but its price already dropped down to about €1,750.
Of course, the first alternative that comes to mind is the Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7. It is a thinner and lighter device, now cheaper, that offers similar experience across the board except for the battery life. And its S-Pen needs to be purchased separately. You may choose the Fold7 for its lower price and matured OneUI interface or opt for the Razr Fold for its fresh take on a still developing niche.
Honor’s Magic V6 already began its global rollout and it’s expected to share the same premium price tag as the Razr Fold. The Magic V6 has a more powerful Elite chipset, better dust resistance and there is an antireflective coating on its primary display. On the other hand, there is no pencil bundled with the Magic, it has inferior battery life and while it is more powerful, its default Balanced battery mode limits the performance so much, that the Razr Fold delivers better one.
The Oppo Find N6 is unique for its true crease-free inner display. It also offers similarly large screens, battery capacity, and equally capable cameras. The Find N6 has one-less CPU core than the Razr Fold, for what’s that worth, there is no stylus inside the box, and it’s not as easy to get it as is with the Razr Fold. But that’s probably the true rival of this Moto and you should consider it.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 • Honor Magic V6 • Oppo Find N6
Our verdict
There is no foldable that is outright better than the Motorola Razr Fold, but the Razr Fold is also not standing above the current crop. As far as we can tell – the modern book-style foldables are such great devices, versatile and powerful, with equally great hardware and software, that everything boils down to personal feelings and preferences.
This is one of the rare cases where the reviewer’s recommendation would hardly matter, as all competitors would leave you satisfied.
The Motorola Razr Fold has it all – a signature design with a unique touch of class, a trait Motorola easily delivers across all its phones. Then there are two absolutely lovely OLED screens with great properties. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip is one of the most powerful on the market with acceptable sustained performance for a foldable phone.
Then there is the camera kit, which has been lifted straight from the Motorola Signature. And it’s one of the best for stills, no matter the camera and its lens. Just don’t expect it to be an Ultra bar phone-level camcorder, because while it’s very good, it’s not that great.
We want to praise the battery life and the charging speed, too. But most of all, we want to applaud Motorola on the clean interface with incredibly rich features including AI, foldable-exclusives, and stylus-rerated.
Overall, we wholeheartedly recommend putting the Motorola Razr Fold on your shortlists as it’s one of the best phones out there. It may not be the most powerful, but it’s easily one of the most likable and most versatile.
Pros
Superb design, grippy and likable.
Excellent screens on both sides, bright and colorful.
Class-leading battery life, fast to charge.
Adequate performance.
Great photos from all cameras.
Versatile video capturing, great stabilization.
Impressive software package.
Bundled Motorola Pen Ultra.
Cons
Average speakers.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is not as powerful as Snapdragon Elite.
Motorola’s 50W wireless charging dock is no longer available.