BARCELONA—Motorola announced its Razr Fold at CES before showing it more closely in Mobile World Congressand I was really impressed. The release date and price of the book-style folding book are still unknown. But given what I’ve seen so far, it will compete fiercely with Samsung and Google. folding phones. I spent some time reviewing the Razr Fold and here’s what I discovered.
Design: slim and durable
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The Moto Razr Fold measures 5.7 by 6.3 by 0.4 inches (HWD) when closed and 6.3 by 2.9 by 0.2 inches when open, and weighs 8.6 ounces. These numbers put the Razr Fold in line with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7which measures 6.2 by 2.9 by 0.4 inches when folded and 6.2 by 2.9 by 0.2 inches when open. The Z Fold 7 is also lighter at just 7.6 ounces. I held both devices and felt that they were relatively similar in weight, even though they are a full ounce apart.
Motorola covered the front screen with Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 and the Razr Fold is IP48 and IP49 rating, meaning it is resistant to debris larger than 1mm, immersion and water jets. The Z Fold 7 is IP48 rated.
The Razr Fold comes in Blackened Blue or Lily White. The Blackened Blue model features a textured, rubber-like backing for good grip, while the Lily White has a smooth, satin finish. The Blackened Blue model features a dark frame, while the Lily White model has a silver frame. They both seem very intelligent.
Screens: super bright
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The Fold’s front display is a 6.6-inch pOLED display with a resolution of 2,520 by 1,080 pixels, a refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, and a maximum brightness of 6,000 nits. Inside is an 8.1-inch LTPO display with a resolution of 2,484 by 2,232 pixels, a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, and a maximum brightness of 6,200 nits.
I would have liked the refresh rates to match, but this is a small detail. These screens are very bright. In a sun-drenched room, I had no problems seeing any of the screens.
When the interior screen brightness is set to 100%, it is almost impossible to see the screen fold directly. Lower the brightness to zero and you will see a small ripple.
I like to write on my phone, so I was intrigued by the Razr Fold, which supports the Motorola Pen Ultra (sold separately for an unknown price) on both screens. Typing on the inside screen of a Galaxy Z Fold 6 It always bothered me as I felt like I was digging into the screen softer with the S Pen. (The Z Fold 7 stopped supporting the stylus.)
With the Razr Fold, you could choose whether to write on the front glass or the interior screen. The Moto Pen Ultra supports up to 4,096 pressure levels, but I wasn’t able to test that statistic during my brief time with the device. The Pen Ultra writes smoothly with low latency.
Cameras: I couldn’t believe my eyes
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
When people talk about which phones have the best cameras, Motorola rarely mentions; The big players are Apple, Google and Samsung. That could change soon, as Moto decked out the Razr Fold with high-quality glass.
The rear panel features a 50MP Sony Lytia camera with f/1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), a 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera (manufacturer is not identified), and a 50MP Sony Lytia 600 telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. Motorola includes a 100x super zoom mode, which leverages artificial intelligence to extract details from extremely distant objects.
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For the front cameras, you get two: a 32MP front camera on the outer display and a 20MP front camera on the inner display hidden in a corner. Video capture reaches a maximum resolution of 8K at 30 frames per second.
I can’t share the photos I took with the Razr Fold, but I was surprised by the quality. Images were sharp, details were preserved, and colors appeared natural. I took some comparison photos with a Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Moto captured details that the Z Fold didn’t.
Motorola boasted about its cameras and said DXOMark rated the Razr Fold as the number one foldable camera system and the number two smartphone camera system in North America. I can see what DXOMark is talking about. We will do extensive testing when we receive a review unit to see if it is as good as the foldable Google Pixel 10 Probut it’s already clear that the Razr Fold produces surprisingly good images.
Performance: It’s not ‘elite’, but will it matter?
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The Razr Fold uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, rather than an Elite chip like the Galaxy S26 lineup that Samsung presented at Unpacked last week. There’s no expandable storage, but that’s an increasingly rare feature.
In my brief tests, the Razr Fold ran smoothly and switched between screens without issue. I can’t yet speak to how the device will handle heavier tasks.
Battery: Moto doesn’t waste time
With a massive 6000mAh battery, the Razr Fold should last a long time, but we’ll have to see in testing as those bright screens can drain the battery. The Razr Fold is capable of up to 80W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 5W reverse charging.
For comparison, the Z Fold 7 uses a 4,400 mAh cell that charges up to 25W wired, 15W wirelessly, and 5W in reverse. That’s a big point of differentiation for the Moto Razr Fold: a big battery with wired charging speeds more than three times faster than the Z Fold 7.
The unknown
At this time, Motorola has not provided details on pricing or availability. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 costs $1,999.99 for a 256GB model, $2,119.99 for 512GB, and $2,419.99 for 1TB.
Speaking of which, Samsung should take note of Moto’s stylus support on foldable devices, as neither the Z Fold 7 nor the Z TriFold support it.
The price of the Razr Fold is the biggest unknown, but Motorola certainly has our attention.
About our expert
Iyaz Akhtar
Mobile writer
Experience
I’ve been in technology for as long as I can remember. As a PCMag mobile writer, I get to test the newest phones and tablets. Since you trust our purchasing advice, I make sure you get everything the manufacturer claims, which means lots of testing. this is you phone we are talking about; It’s like a part of you. I’ve covered technology as a career for about two decades (oops, I had to think about that!). You’ve seen my work on The Apple Blog, PCMag (since my first visit), This Week in Tech, and CNET. I also occasionally produce independent video projects, including This Old Nerd, a how-to series showing practical ways to get the most out of technology.
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