The Motorola Razr Fold it’s hitting stores soon, and I’ve already spent a few weeks with the phone, which is Motorola’s first foldable phone in the form of a book. If you want a full summary of my thoughts using the Razr Fold, my review is already up and we’ve published it separately. camera viewI worked with my colleague Nick Sutrich.
That said, if you’re on the fence about whether to buy Razr FoldI break down some reasons to consider it and others to skip or wait. Think of it as a mini review that only focuses on the main points and concerns before you buy.
Motorola Razr Fold: Why you should buy it
From its cameras to its performance to its long battery life, these are the main reasons why I find the Razr Fold worth looking at.
Great camera
The Razr Fold has an impressive set of cameras. Motorola isn’t exactly known for its camera prowess, but the company is cooking with the Fold’s triple 50MP rear sensors. Thanks to the Sony Lytia sensors and some help from Pantone, the photos are bright and vibrant, very pleasing to the eye. Of course, not everyone will be a fan of this design, but Android Central’s Nick Sutrich and I are pretty happy with the cameras.
Motorola has included some key imaging features along with some new ones. Of course, you can twist the phone twice to open the camera, and for those fast-moving objects, Action Shot will snap them into focus. Frame Match is new, helping your friend frame you in a photo just the way you want it so you can capture the scene just right. Since it’s foldable, the Razr Fold’s outer screen can be used as a viewfinder for selfies or as a viewing screen for objects.
Flagship performance
Equipped with Motorola Razr Fold Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. It might not be for the best Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5but paired with 16GB of RAM, the chip performs well without the added power. You’ll have no trouble juggling multiple apps, and the phone is surprisingly capable of playing games.
I’ve played some fairly graphically intensive games like Honkai: Star Rail and Where the Winds Meet at the highest settings and the phone doesn’t lag a bit or heat up noticeably.
|
Benchmarks |
Motorola Razr Fold |
|---|---|
|
Geekbench 6 CPU (single core) |
2766 |
|
Geekbench 6 CPU (multi-core) |
9054 |
|
Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL) |
17878 |
|
Geekbench 6 GPU (Vulcan) |
21755 |
|
3DMark Wild Life Extreme (Volcano) |
4858 |
The tests leave a lot to be desired compared to flagships equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, they don’t always tell the whole story, and to be completely honest, I’m more than happy with the Razr Fold’s performance.
Silicon-carbon battery
Silicon-carbon batteries is the hottest new technology in smartphones, enabling denser, larger batteries and increasing battery life for advanced smartphones. Google and Samsung have yet to adopt the technology in their latest flagships, but Motorola is bringing it to the US with the Fold, squeezing a 6,000 mAh battery into a very thin profile.
The result is pretty impressive battery life, and I can get more than a day’s use out of the Razr Fold.
Plus, when you run out of battery fast 80W charging A pinch can fill you up, assuming there is one compatible charger and USB-C cable. If you like wireless charging, the Razr Fold supports fast 50W charging with a compatible Qi charger.
Versatility
The Razr Fold has a 6.6-inch external display and is quite impressive with a 165Hz refresh rate and 6,000 nits of peak brightness. However, the built-in foldable display gives you more screen to work with at 8.1 inches, and Motorola does a pretty good job of utilizing the real estate and the foldable nature of the phone.
Multitasking is pretty easy; you can drag apps up from the taskbar to open a triple-app split-screen view. You can also add a fourth program by opening it in floating freeform mode; just drag it to the middle of the screen. And thanks to the Snapdragon chip, the phone handles all this very well.
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The Razr Fold also has two modes that you can activate when folding the phone at different angles. Desk mode turns the Razr Fold into a smart desk display that can display the clock, calendar, upcoming tasks, and notifications.
When you open the Razr at a laptop-like angle, you can activate Laptop Mode, which turns the bottom half of the device into a trackpad that controls the top half with a cursor. It provides a collection of shortcuts for certain functions, and when you enter a text field, the bottom half opens the full keyboard.
7 years of software support
Motorola isn’t always the best at software, but the company is clearly learning. The Razr Fold will receive seven years of OS upgrades and bimonthly security updates. This means that the phone will eventually receive Android 23 or 24 and will have to receive updates for longer than you probably want to keep. For such an expensive phone, long-term support like this just adds value.
Moto Pen Ultra
We are very disappointed with Samsung Removing support for the S Pen on Galaxy Z Fold 7. Motorola must have heard the cries, because it created its own version of the S Pen specifically for the Razr Fold.
The Moto Pen Ultra is an active stylus, so it supports pressure sensitivity and tilt detection on Razr Fold screens. Unlike the S Pen for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the Moto Pen Ultra supports Bluetooth, so you can take pictures with the stylus as a remote shutter release or use the side button to activate functions like. Circular to search.
You can also use features like annotating your screen, dragging and dropping elements between apps, and Motorola’s Sketch to Image feature, which uses artificial intelligence to clean up and create whatever you draw. It’s a neat addition if you’re willing to spend the extra $99, and it comes in a nice soft-padded charging case.
Why you should skip the Razr Fold
There’s a lot to like about the Razr Fold, but there are also some things to consider that might keep you from clicking the Add to Cart button. These are the main reasons I focus on.
Expensive
Smartphones aren’t getting cheaper; in fact, thanks to them, they have become more expensive lately RAM crisis. The Razr Fold, like other book-style folding phones, is a pretty penny at $1,900. That’s $100 less than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 at launch, but $100 more than the launch Pixel 10 Pro Fold when it was launched last year.
It’s the most I’ve seen Motorola charge for a smartphone, and while carriers can help spread the cost over multi-year payment plans, Motorola says the Razr Fold will be available on T-Mobile, Xfinity Mobile and Verizon “in the coming months.”
On the plus side, Motorola is known for offering some pretty attractive deals on their smartphones, so if you’re willing to wait, you can get a sweet discount. Right now, the Razr Fold has some decent pre-order deals for the unlocked model.
Few accessories
The Razr Fold is a great-looking phone thanks to Motorola’s use of alternative materials instead of glass. However, a phone this expensive needs to be protected with a case, and unfortunately, there aren’t many Razr Fold cases to choose from. Motorola has one first-party case for the Fold in two colors, but it won’t be available until June 12.
You can look for cases elsewhere, but you won’t find many other than Thinborne, a big brand that seems to have a history of producing very thin cases. You can probably find a decent bag from an unknown brand online, but you’re better off waiting for a Thinborne case.
We’ve been asked many times about making an aramid fiber case for the Motorola Razr Fold 2026. The truth is, it probably won’t make us much money. Motorola is a smaller market compared to iPhone or Samsung. BUT HELK. We did not want to disappoint our customers. So yeah —… pic.twitter.com/wXQ8trSa2aMay 13, 2026
This is different from Samsung’s approach; the company will introduce a new flagship with many first-party case options and many third-party cases to choose from. We wish Motorola would be more proactive about protective accessories, but it seems the company hates them.
Motorola is a bit of a second-class citizen
Despite being a mid-sized player in the mobile space (and at one point owned by Google), Motorola still feels like a second-class citizen when it comes to Android. Whenever Google announces new features, Pixel phones often takes them first, but most of the time Samsung devices get them before Pixels and other Android phones.
Quick Share’s AirDrop support first came to Pixels, then expanded to earlier Samsung phones it finally reaches others. Twins screen automation actually came earlier on the Galaxy S26 Expands to Pixel 10.
Motorola rarely gets the same treatment, maybe new A wardrobe feature is coming to Google Photos. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait comfortably to get the latest Android features or not get them at all (AirDrop support seems up in the air).
That’s not to say the Razr Fold isn’t impressive and capable in its own right, but there will be some FOMO as Samsung and Google get their first look at the new features.
