{"id":460608,"date":"2026-06-04T12:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/460608\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:36:12","slug":"i-tested-the-new-motorola-razr-2026-why-is-no-one-talking-about-this-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/460608\/","title":{"rendered":"I tested the new Motorola Razr 2026: Why is no one talking about this upgrade?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At $800, the new Motorola Razr 2026 is $100 more expensive than its predecessor, but it’s still the most affordable flip phone you can buy, sitting well below the $1,100 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7<\/a>.So do you get any meaningful upgrades? You get some: a bigger battery, improved cameras and some fun color options. But one thing remains the same \u2014 this is not a super fast phone, nor is it a gaming phone<\/a>. I consider this a minor tradeoff for everything else you get, but with the higher price we could ask for faster performance, right?In the United States, the Razr 2026 is available at Verizon<\/a> and T-Mobile<\/a>, where it is positioned as their most affordable foldable phone<\/a>, while AT&T<\/a> is not officially carrying this model. You can, however, also buy the Razr 2026 unlocked and just use your AT&T SIM with it and it will work just fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The base Razr 2026 is also widely available at Boost Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, Consumer Cellular and Google Fi. The places where you can buy it unlocked are Amazon, Best Buy and Motorola.com, the latter offering $200 discount with a trade-in and free Moto Buds 2 Plus with the purchase.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents:<\/p>\n

Also read::<\/p>\n

Motorola Razr 2026 Design and DisplayA budget foldable that looks stylish<\/p>\n

\"Image <\/p>\n

Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n

Motorola basically took the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach with the base Razr 2026. Put the 2026 and 2025 models next to each other, and you’d honestly have a hard time telling which is which, unless you already know what are the new colors. Speaking of the colors, we have the Violet Ice model with a soft, vegan leather finish that feels very nice in the hand. Otherwise, the physical design is completely unchanged.<\/p>\n

You’re still getting the same 3.6-inch cover screen wrapping around the two camera lenses, plus the same 6.9-inch inner display with the same bezel size.\u00a0The slightly rounded frame and corners are totally unchanged as well.<\/p>\n

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\"Motorola<\/p>\n

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\"Motorola<\/p>\n

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\nThe Razr 2026 is also rated IP48, meaning the same level of protection (not full dust protection, but some protection against solid particles larger than 1mm).While the hinge looks the same from the outside, Motorola quietly tweaked the structural material on the inside. The new 2026 model uses an improved, titanium-reinforced mechanism to ensure smoother folding and added more resistance against micro-creasing over longer use.<\/p>\n

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Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n

Inside the box, you will find:the Motorola Razr 2026 itselfUSB Type-C cableSIM ejector toolManuals and leaflets
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\nMotorola has not changed the screen sizes this year: we have the same 6.9-inch internal OLED screen with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, while on the cover, you get a 3.6-inch screen. This one is not truly edge to edge, a small compromise compared to the Razr Plus<\/a> and Razr Ultra models, but the 10% smaller display is not a major dealbreaker in my opinion.<\/p>\n

While the essential display specs haven’t changed, Motorola is reportedly using newer panel technology that is slightly more efficient. Because of the new hinge, the crease in the middle is a bit shallower, which is nice.<\/p>\n

On our in-house PhoneArena display lab measurements, we see the Razr 2026 and Razr 2025<\/a> going hand in hand \u2014 peak brightness at 20% white level is around 2150 nits (measured on the internal screen), but the minimum brightness remains a compromise at 2.7 nits. Most people would prefer it dipping to 1 nit or below for eye comfort when using the phone at night.<\/p>\n

The fingerprint scanner is embedded into the side-positioned power button. It’s an old-school capacitive fingerprint reader, and I don’t really mind: it is zippy and accurate, and just works.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Motorola Razr 2026 CameraNoticeably camera improvements<\/p>\n

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Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n

The biggest change on the new Razr 2026 model is in the cameras. While the previous model featured a 50MP main and a 13MP ultra-wide setup, the newer model jumps to two 50MP cameras.<\/p>\n

The jump in quality is most noticeable on the ultra-wide camera, which now has an even wider field of view and with pixel binning, it captures cleaner detail in low light conditions.<\/p>\n

But look at the images and you’d realize that most people are not giving Motorola enough credit for the year-to-year improvements here. This is easily one of the most underrated upgrades of this phone.<\/p>\n

Main Camera<\/p>\n

The most noticeable improvement I noticed in the dozens of sample photos I captured on the Razr 2026 is the reduction in sharpness. Smartphone photos often have lots of artificially added sharpness, which is typically a bad look, and I’m happy to see that the Razr 2026 goes with more realistic, softer detail<\/p>\n

Occasionally, it also resolves some of the issues of the Razr 2025 camera that is a bit more erratic.<\/p>\n

Portrait Mode<\/p>\n

The improvement in quality in portrait mode is MASSIVE. The 2025 edition features very unnatural detail, while the Razr 2026 fixes that with more detailed and pleasing looking portraits.<\/p>\n

Zoom Quality<\/p>\n

While there is no dedicated telephoto camera on the Razr 2026, you can see a clear improvement in the detail, which means Motorola has improved the software processing noticeably.<\/p>\n

Ultra-wide<\/p>\n

The ultra-wide camera is the biggest leap forward with an even wider field of view, less HDR artifacting and more pleasing colors.<\/p>\n

Motorola also leans heavily into that bright and cheerful look, which was previously associated with Samsung phones. It’s not totally realistic, but I don’t mind it.<\/p>\n

Selfies<\/p>\n

Selfies also seem to have improved a bit in terms of detail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Motorola Razr 2026 Performance & BenchmarksStill so very average\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Image <\/p>\n

Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n

The biggest compromise on the Razr 2026 has got to be its incredibly average performance. The phone now runs on a slightly newer MediaTek Dimensity 7450X chipset (vs the 7400X version on the Razr 2025).<\/p>\n

You have 8GB of RAM on board, no change here, and that’s again, just the average for 2026.<\/p>\n

CPU Performance Benchmarks:
Geekbench 6: A high single-core score is what makes your phone feel snappy during everyday tasks like opening apps, typing and browsing. The multi-core score matters most when doing heavier work like video editing or gaming.<\/p>\n

CPU performance has not increased an iota here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI Quantized: This test measures how efficiently your phone\u2019s ‘brain’ handles AI tasks, ensuring that features like live translation and smart photo editing feel instant and fluid without draining your battery.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, on-device AI performance has actually decreased in the newer version.<\/p>\n

GPU Performance<\/p>\n

Wild Life Extreme is a heavy graphics workload used to measure a device’s sustained GPU performance and thermal throttling.\u00a0It uses older mobile rendering techniques and is friendly to older or lower-end mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Gaming performance has also remained unchanged and these scores are very average. You can play basic mobile games easier, but this is not a phone that you can comfortably play more demanding titles like Genshin Impact.<\/p>\n

Steel Nomad Light Stress Test: Measures your phone\u2019s “gaming stamina” by comparing its peak speed (High) against its throttled speed after it heats up (Low), revealing whether your performance will stay smooth or start lagging during a long session.<\/p>\n

The newer Steel Nomad test once again shows that there hasn’t been a meaningful improvement in gaming.<\/p>\n

Storage speed
The Razr 2026 comes with 256GB of storage, which has become the new standard this year and that’s great. There is no microSD card slot, so you cannot expand that storage.
Storage tests measure how quickly your phone can move data. Random read and write show how fast your phone can find and move thousands of tiny, scattered files. This is the most important metric for an average user because it\u2019s what happens when you open an app, check your notifications, or search through your photo gallery. Sequential read and write measure the speed of moving one giant, continuous file. You\u2019ll notice this when you are saving a 4K video you just recorded or downloading a massive game update.<\/p>\n

We are happy to see UFS 3.1 storage here and a welcome boost in storage speeds which makes loading games and photos noticeably quicker.<\/p>\n

Motorola Razr 2026 Software<\/p>\n

We get Android 16<\/a>\u00a0on the Motorola Razr 2026 in\u00a0a fairly clean form, only sprinkled with a few familiar Moto features on top. Of course, we have the Moto Actions: gestures like chop-chop to start the flashlight or twisting the phone to start the camera.<\/p>\n

But the biggest miss is the software update situation. Motorola only commits to 3 years of OS updates on the whole Razr 2026 flip phone family (the Fold gets 7 years). This is just not on par with the rest of the industry and Samsung has a strong advantage here, supporting its phones for 7 years.<\/p>\n

On the Motorola Razr, this means that you are to get Android 17<\/a>, Android 18 and Android 19, and that’s all.<\/p>\n

Motorola has also expanded its AI features a tiny bit, but there is no dedicated physical button to start AI features (only the familiar long press on the power key that opens Gemini).<\/p>\n

Here are the signature Moto AI features (most of them were introduced last year):<\/p>\n

Catch Me Up: Uses AI to summarize your missed notifications and chat threads (including apps like WhatsApp and Messages).\tIt now runs a bit faster and supports more regional languages on-device.
Pay Attention:\u00a0Records live conversations or meetings, transcribing and auto-summarizing them directly into Moto Notes, This was also introduced in 2025, but now features better multi-speaker separation.
Remember This:\tWhen you take a screenshot or photo, the AI tags it with text description, so you can search for it later using natural language.
Look and Talk:\tAllows you to wake the assistant simply by looking at the cover display when the phone is propped open in “Tent” mode. When this launched in 2025, it was only available on the Razr Ultra, and now it comes on all 2026 Moto foldables.
Playlist \/ Image Studio:\u00a0You can use this to generates wallpapers from text or you can get very specific music playlists that you bring from a voice prompt.<\/p>\n

Motorola Razr 2026 BatteryGood battery life for a flip phoneThe Razr 2026 brings a nearly 7% larger battery, a nifty upgrade. It now comes with a 4,800mAh cell, up from a 4,500mAh battery on the Razr 2025.\u00a0Compared to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 7, the Razr 2026 has a nearly 11% bigger battery size, a big improvement.PhoneArena Battery Test Results:On our tests, however, recent Motorola phones<\/a> perform below average with our web browsing work load, and the Razr 2026 scores below last year’s edition.<\/p>\n

We did, however, measure a welcome improvement in video streaming where the new Razr lasted for nearly 11 hours, a really impressive score.<\/p>\n

In terms of charging, the phone supports 30W wired and standard 15W wireless charging. Not amazing, but not bad either.<\/p>\n

The Motorola Razr (2025) takes around 1 hour for a full wired charge. It also supports wireless charging at 15W speeds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you want faster charging, you need to upgrade to the Razr Plus 2026 (it supports 45W wired charging) or the Razr Ultra 2026<\/a> (this one has 68W wired and 30W wireless).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Motorola Razr 2026 Audio Quality and Haptics<\/p>\n

Like most other phones, the Razr 2026\u00a0comes with a hybrid\u00a0 dual-stereo speaker layout\u2014one dedicated speaker on the bottom and a secondary speaker built into the earpiece at the top. When unfolded it sounds above average, but not quite great. It doesn’t get excessively loud, but sound is not muffled either. When you flip it closed, though, you lose the secondary speaker and you can notice the drop.<\/p>\n

The haptics are well handled with nice and tight feedback, just as you’d expect on a phone in this price tier.<\/p>\n

Motorola Razr 2026 Specs<\/p>\n

Here is an overview of the Motorola Razr 2026 specs:<\/p>\n

Dimensions<\/p>\n

171.30 x 73.99 x 7.25 mm<\/p>\n

171.4 x 74 x 7.1 mm<\/p>\n

171.48 \u00d7 73.99 \u00d7 7.19<\/p>\n

Weight<\/p>\n

188.0 g<\/p>\n

189.0 g<\/p>\n

199.0 g<\/p>\n

Size<\/p>\n

6.9-inch<\/p>\n

6.9-inch<\/p>\n

7.0-inch<\/p>\n

Type<\/p>\n

AMOLED, 120Hz<\/p>\n

AMOLED, 165Hz<\/p>\n

AMOLED, 165Hz<\/p>\n

System chip<\/p>\n

MediaTek Dimensity 7450X (4 nm)<\/p>\n

Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SM8635 (4 nm)<\/p>\n

Snapdragon 8 Elite SM8750-AC (3 nm)<\/p>\n

Memory<\/p>\n

8GB (LPDDR5X)\/256GB (UFS 3.1)<\/p>\n

12GB (LPDDR5X)\/256GB (UFS 4.0)<\/p>\n

16GB (LPDDR5X)\/512GB (UFS 4.0)<\/p>\n

OS<\/p>\n

Android (16)<\/p>\n

Android (16)<\/p>\n

Android (16)<\/p>\n

Type<\/p>\n

4800 mAh<\/p>\n

4500 mAh<\/p>\n

5000 mAh<\/p>\n

Charge speed<\/p>\n

Wired: 30.0W
Wireless: 15.0W<\/p>\n

Wired: 45.0W
Wireless: 15.0W<\/p>\n

Wired: 68.0W
Wireless: 30.0W<\/p>\n

Main camera<\/p>\n

50 MP (PDAF)
Aperture size: F1.7
Focal length: 25 mm
Sensor size: 1\/1.95″
Pixel size: 0.8 \u03bcm<\/p>\n

50 MP (OIS, PDAF)
Aperture size: F1.8
Focal length: 24 mm
Sensor size: 1\/1.95″
Pixel size: 0.8 \u03bcm<\/p>\n

50 MP (OIS, PDAF)
Aperture size: F1.8
Focal length: 24 mm
Sensor size: 1\/1.56″
Pixel size: 1.0 \u03bcm<\/p>\n

Second camera<\/p>\n

50 MP (Ultra-wide)
Aperture size: F2.0
Focal Length: 12 mm
Sensor size: 1\/2.76″
Pixel size: 0.64 \u03bcm<\/p>\n

50 MP (Ultra-wide)
Aperture size: F2.0
Focal Length: 12 mm
Sensor size: 1\/2.76″
Pixel size: 0.64 \u03bcm<\/p>\n

50 MP (Ultra-wide, PDAF)
Aperture size: F2.0
Focal Length: 12 mm
Sensor size: 1\/2.93″
Pixel size: 0.6 \u03bcm<\/p>\n

Front<\/p>\n

32 MP<\/p>\n

32 MP<\/p>\n

50 MP<\/p>\n

See the full
\n
\n Motorola Razr (2026) vs Motorola Razr Plus (2026) vs Motorola Razr Ultra (2026) specs comparison
\n <\/a>
\n or compare them to other phones using our
\n Phone Comparison tool<\/a><\/p>\n

Should you buy it?<\/p>\n

\"Image <\/p>\n

Image by PhoneArena<\/p>\n

The Motorola Razr 2026 remains the value king in the flip phone market, despite the jump in price from $700 to $800 this year.<\/p>\n

It’s widely available on carriers and in my time with it, I did not experience any major issues. It was a fine flip phone.<\/p>\n

If you are a more demanding user, though, the average processor remains a sore point that you will certainly notice. Motorola also keeps on disappointing with the short software support window \u2014 3 years of promised updates is not enough.<\/p>\n

Yet still, with trade-in discounts and other bonuses, the Razr 2026 is good value. You get the improved battery life and most reviewers are missing the noticeable upgrade in camera quality this year. All things considered, this is the flip phone I will recommend to most people who don’t want to spend a fortune, yet still want that flip phone experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At $800, the new Motorola Razr 2026 is $100 more expensive than its predecessor, but it’s still the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-460608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-mobile","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}