6:03
Motorola's had a bit of a weird strategy for the Razr Fold, the company's very first book-style foldable. First, they showed us this phone at CES, but didn't tell us much of anything about it. They didn't even tell us what processor it has. Then, at Mobile World Congress, they revealed a bit more info about it, including the processor, but still didn't divulge pricing or availability. And then, last week, Motorola finally revealed everything. But, since it's taken months now to get to this point, you might be confused about what this phone is all about. So, let's take a second look at the Motorola Razr Fold. So, the biggest thing to know about this phone is that this is Motorola's first
ever release that folds like this. Up until now, all of Moto's foldable phones have been clamshell style. So, while this isn't the company's first foldable, it's definitely their first foray into this particular style. Honestly, for a first attempt, this looks and feels great. Motorola sent me the black model. Wait, the Pantone black and blue model. That's a weird name considering this is definitely pitch black. I don't see any blue at all. Anyway, the back of the phone has this amazing textured feel to it, kind of like carbon fiber, but a bit softer. There's also a white model available, officially known as Pantone Lily White.
Unfortunately, these are your only two choices for the Razr Fold, which is a bit disappointing considering all the wild colors and textures that come with the company's clamshell foldables. Hopefully, this Razr Fold will be a success and we'll get a wider selection of designs with the 2027 Razr Fold. Anyway, along the edges of the black model, there's a brushed dark aluminum that also feels and looks great. Up here, we have a bunch of buttons, including the power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader, two volume buttons way up top here, and then this random button here is the AI key, which, you does AI stuff that most people won't care about.
This definitely isn't a review of this phone as I haven't had it long enough to give any real opinions on it, but I must admit that it's weird that the volume keys are so high up on the side. It makes them really inconvenient to tap with your thumb while holding it with one hand. It's not impossible, it's just not comfortable. I'm not sure what the reasoning was behind that. Down here, we have the USB-C port which barely fits thanks to how thin each panel of the phone is. We've got some speakers here, a few microphone holes, and then the physical SIM tray which here in the US only holds one card, but the tray is big enough to hold two. So, other parts of the world might have a true dual SIM
tray. Here in the US, the phone also supports eSIM, so you can still go dual SIM with US models. You'll just need one physical SIM and then one eSIM. On the top of the phone, we have another speaker and some more microphone holes. On the back, we have this terrific looking camera module. Each of these lenses is 50 megapixels and includes a wide, an ultra-wide, and a periscope telephoto. Motorola has been very vocal about how these cameras are currently the top-rated models for US foldable phones at DXOMARK, but we'll need to do our own testing before we talk much about them. On paper though, this seems like a very impressive camera system, especially for a foldable. And on the
front, we have this lovely cover display. It's an OLED in a 21:9 aspect ratio and 1080p resolution with a very high a 165 hertz refresh rate. It's also one of the very few phones available with the brand new Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 protecting it and features a subtle curve on all four sides. This is an interesting choice as we don't see many curvy panels these days now that pretty much every brand is going for completely flat panels. Oh, and up here we have a 32-megapixel selfie camera. And finally, when you open up the phone, you see a stunning 8.1-in OLED display in a nearly square ratio and a resolution of 2232 by 2484, which we would colloquially refer to as 2K. It also gets very bright at up to 6200
nits, making this a very, very impressive inner display that few foldables can match. For reference, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has a peak brightness that's about a third lower, is slightly smaller in size, and has a lower resolution. Of course, the bezels of the Galaxy Z Fold 7's inner display are thinner, so pick your battles there. The inner display is interrupted slightly by the selfie camera tucked away in the top right corner. On paper, this is a slightly weaker camera than what we saw on the front with a 20-megapixel lens. I'm not sure how much of a difference that will make, but honestly, it shouldn't matter much. One of the best parts about owning a foldable phone is being able to use the rear camera system
as a selfie camera, so you should really only be using the tiny selfie lenses for things like video calls. So, that's the outside of the phone, but what's going on inside? The processor in the Motorola Razr Fold is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. No, I didn't mispronounce that. This is not the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, it's just the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. This is a lesser version of the 8 Elite Gen 5 with a slightly weaker CPU and a less impressive GPU than the Elite model. Don't get me wrong, this is still a monster of a processor and will tear through any app or game you throw its way. But with a phone this expensive, it is a bit disappointing that Motorola couldn't go all the way with the Elite chip. This is even more frustrating when
you know that other flagship foldable phones like the Oppo Find N6 and the Honor Magic V6 were able to get the full fat Elite Gen 5, and they're about the same price as Motorolas. Of course, neither of those phones is available here in the US, so Motorola doesn't need to worry about them in what is ostensibly its biggest market. Here in the US, there's only one memory configuration, which is 512 gigs of internal storage and 16 gigs of RAM. Although other areas of the world might see other options. I am pretty sure some areas will have access to a 1 TB option, but those of us in the US won't be able to grab that one, at least not easily. Of course, one of the biggest bits of info about the Razer Fold is its
battery. Inside, you'll find a 6,000 mA hour silicon carbon battery. As far as capacity goes, this absolutely smokes the Galaxy Z Fold 7's paltry 4,400 mA hour lithium ion battery. Of course, on paper capacity isn't the end-all be-all, so we'll need to do our testing to see how this really compares. In theory though, the Razer Fold should be one of the best, if not the best book-style foldables you can get in the United States when focused only on battery life. As if all that juice wasn't enough, the Motorola Razer Fold has blazing fast charging speeds. When you use a cable and a compatible charger, it can hit a peak charging speed of 80 W, which is over three times as fast as the Galaxy Z Fold 7. If you don't mind
investing in some new wireless chargers, you can even charge wirelessly at 50 W, which is twice as fast as the wired speed of the Galaxy Z Fold 7. So yeah, Motorola is really doing a banging job here with the Razer Fold when it comes to power. Finally, there's one more thing to talk about, which is this, the Motorola Moto Pen Ultra. This powered stylus, which is sold separately, works on the Razer Fold. You charge the pen in this case, and then you can use it to do various things on the phone, both on the cover and inner displays. This is particularly notable because with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung removed stylus support from that model. So, not only is the Motorola Razr fold smoking the Z
Fold 7 in multiple specs, but it actually offers a feature that Samsung once had, but doesn't anymore. The Moto Pen Ultra will set you back $99 and comes in the same Pantone black and blue as the phone. So, they'll match nicely. I'll leave links to buy the stylus, an 80-W charger, and a 50-W wireless charger in the description, should you want to get all the goodies for your new foldable phone. Speaking of that, how much will the Razr fold cost and when can you get it? As I mentioned earlier, the phone only has one configuration here in the United States with 512 gigs of storage and 16 gigs of RAM, and that will cost you $1,899. For reference, that's $100 less expensive than the MSRP of the Galaxy Z
Fold 7, which only comes with 256 GB of storage for that price. Granted, the Z Fold 7 is almost a year old now, so you can find it for much less than MSRP pretty easily. But, if we make an apples-to-apples comparison, the Razr fold is definitely the better buy. Of course, there is one spot where Samsung definitively has the lead, software support. The Razr fold might be cheaper and have some better specs, but Motorola is only committing to 3 years of Android upgrades and 5 years of security patches. That's pretty low, especially for a phone approaching the $2,000 mark.
Samsung offers a full 7 years of upgrades and security patches, so it's really no contest in that department. And don't forget that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is right around the corner, so who knows how that phone will compare to the Razr fold. But, if you live in the US and are in the market right now for a new foldable phone in this style, the Razr fold is certainly worth a look. Pre-orders for the Razr fold open on May 14th at both motorola.com and Best Buy, and it will hit store shelves on May 21st. If you can hold off for a bit, the phone will also come to US carriers like T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, although
Motorola wouldn't commit to specific dates for that just yet. Stay tuned to Android Authority for our full review of this phone, which will dive deeper into the performance, the camera experience, and much more. In the meantime though, what do you think about the Motorola RAZR Fold?
