Motorola Razr Fold hands-on review: In need of a good sharpening

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After decades of being synonymous with flip phones, Motorola is finally taking its first step into the ultra-competitive world of book-style folding smartphones, unveiling the new Razr Fold ahead of MWC 2026. 

For us in the UK, the full-size foldable game has very much been a two-horse race for years now, with Honor and Samsung battling it out for the top spot – though Google has been making strides, especially with the IP68-rated Pixel 10 Pro Fold. 

So where does the shiny new Motorola Razr Fold fit into this equation? Will it be a dark horse to shake up the market, or is it a little late to the party and stuck playing catch-up with more established brands?

I won’t know for sure until I’ve fully put the Razr Fold through our testing gauntlet but, based on my initial hands-on time with it, I think it might be both. In some areas, like battery, screen quality and cameras, the Razr Fold is right at the cutting edge (I’m not sorry), while others see it lagging behind – looking at you, performance and dust/water resistance. Here’s the full rundown of the specs:

Motorola Razr Fold: Specifications, price and release date

• Processor: 3.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
• RAM: 12GB, 16GB
• Storage options: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
• Internal display: 8.1in, 2,484 x 2,232, 120Hz, LTPO OLED
• External display: 6.56in, 2,520 x 1,080, 165Hz pOLED
• Rear cameras: 50MP (f/1.6), 50MP 3x periscope telephoto, 50MP (f/2.0) ultrawide
• Selfie cameras: 20MP (f/2.4) internal, 32MP (f/2.4) cover
• Battery: 6,000mAh
• Charging: 80W wired, 50W wireless
• Dust and water resistance: IP49
• Dimensions (WDH) eyes: 74 x 9.9 x 160 (folded); 145 x 4.55 x 160 (unfolded)
• Weight: 243g
• Colours: Blackened Blue, Lily White
• UK price: From £1,799
• UK release date: Preorder from 13 April

Motorola Razr Fold: Design and key new features

Compared to the likes of Samsung (which will be releasing its eighth-generation foldable this year) and Honor (which just unveiled the Honor Magic V6) Motorola does feel a little on the back foot. So comparing its first swing to these seasoned veterans will undoubtedly see it coming up short in certain areas. 

Take the nuclear arms race of trying to make the skinniest folding phone possible; Samsung and Honor take this race very seriously (Google less so) and Motorola certainly isn’t going to swoop into the lead from nowhere.

With that being said, the Razr Fold didn’t pop up in a vacuum, there’s a wealth of foldable experience garnered from flip phones like the Razr 60 Ultra that Motorola can port over to this new form factor. 

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So no, the Razr Fold isn’t the slimmest or the lightest, but it’s still sleek and very stylish. It measures 74 x 9.9 x 160mm (WDH) folded and opens out to just 4.45mm thick, with a footprint measuring 145 x 160mm (WxH). That’s really not much thicker than the Honor Magic V5 (4.12mm) or the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 (4.2mm).

Motorola can’t keep up with the big boys on weight, tipping the scales at 443g – roughly 28g heavier than the Galaxy and 26g more than the Honor – but it does undercut the comparatively chunky Pixel 10 Pro XL (258g). It would have been nice to see Motorola land closer to its lighter rivals but the Razr Fold still doesn’t feel particularly cumbersome; it’s solid but not uncomfortably so.

I’m liking the overall design, too; the Razr Fold comes in two colourways, with the Blackened Blue model pictured here backed by an intricate and stylish diamond-pattern “piqué-inspired” look, while the Lily White model has a smoother, silk-inspired finish. Interesting Pantone colours and experimental materials are one of the key appeals of Motorola phones, so it’s great to see that philosophy making it over to the Fold.

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Where the Pixel (and the Honor) has the edge, is dust and water resistance. Finally cracking the IP68 rating and making foldables dust-tight was the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s claim to fame, and Honor quickly followed suit with its IP68/IP69 rated Magic V6. By comparison, the Razr Fold feels more at home among last year’s entries, with its IP49 rating only protecting against ingress from particles over 1mm in diameter. 

The 9 is interesting, as it means that the Razr Fold can survive high intensity bursts of water, just like the Honor Magic V6. The lack of reference to submersion, however (indicated perhaps with an IP48/IP49 rating) leads me to wonder if Motorola is trying to sneakily suggest this foldable is more robust than it actually is. Until we have confirmation, no folding in the bath, folks.

What is most impressive about the design – and perhaps the most obvious indicator that this is far from Motorola’s first foldable rodeo – is the internal display. This expansive 8.1in OLED panel has a sharp 2,484 x 2,232 resolution and an LTPO refresh rate up to 120Hz. Most importantly, it shows no sign of a display crease over the hinge – long the bane of foldable phones.

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My colleague Will Georgiadis made a similar observation in his hands-on of the Honor Magic V6, so it appears that despite only entering the race this year, internal display quality is one area in which Motorola is keeping pace with the best in the game.

The 6.56in OLED cover display looks solid enough, too, with a 2,520 x 1,080 resolution and a nippy 165Hz refresh rate – though it’s not LTPO, so no dynamic refresh rates here. There is, at least, a layer of Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 for scratch protection.

If I wasn’t excited about the lack of a hinge crease on the main display, Motorola certainly won me over by confirming the Razr Fold would support a stylus – specifically, the new Moto Pen Ultra. Dropping compatibility with the S Pen was one of my biggest concerns with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, so it’s great to see Motorola coming in strong on the side of the scribblers.

Both screens have a selfie camera, with the internal fitted with a 20MP (f/2.4) lens in the top-right corner and a sharper 32MP (f2.4) shooter atop the cover screen.

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Over on the rear of the phone, we’ve got a very familiar sloping plateau that houses a further three lenses, all 50-megapixels: a main camera, an ultrawide and a periscope telephoto lens with a 3x optical zoom. 

Inside, we’ve got the big-ticket item – a 6,000mAh Silicon-Carbon battery. At the time of writing, no other foldable on the market has this much battery capacity – though that will change when the Honor Magic V6 arrives later this year with its vaguely satanic 6,660mAh capacity.

Still, being second-best is still quite the accolade for Motorola’s first time out. We’ll have to see how this translates to battery life when it comes time for testing but a big capacity is certainly a good start.

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Elsewhere inside the phone, we have the 3.8GHz Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, backed by either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. This all sounds fine enough but it almost certainly means that the Razr Fold will be quite a bit less powerful than the Honor Magic V6 (which uses the 4.6GHz Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 (unconfirmed but likely to use an overclocked “for Galaxy” variant of the 8 Elite Gen 5).

That might sound like bad news on paper but there is a caveat. Both the Honor Magic V5 and Motorola’s own Razr 60 Ultra used flagship chipsets last year, and both struggled with heat management in their slim, foldable formats. Could it be that Motorola is playing it safe, aiming to make the most of the 8 Gen 5, rather than over-promising and then getting hit with throttling? Only time and testing will tell.

Finally on the software front, the Razr Fold will launch with Android 16, including its own brand of AI tools like Catch Me Up and Pay Attention – nothing new there. What is new, and great to see, is Motorola committing to seven years of software support, matching Google, Samsung and Honor.

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Motorola absolutely had to make this call if it wanted a chance in the market, because in contrast to early leaks, it’s looking like it won’t be undercutting the competition on price. Starting at £1,799 for the 12/256GB model, the Razr Fold is the same price as the “entry-level” Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 from last year, £50 more than the 256GB Pixel 10 Pro Fold and £100 more than the starting price of the Magic V5.

Granted, we don’t have pricing information for either the Magic V6 or the Z Fold 8 yet – or the Pixel 11 Pro Fold further down the road – so the Motorola could well end up being competitive, but as things stand right now, it’s not the disrupting price point we were hoping for.

Motorola Razr Fold: Early verdict

As a long-time fan of Motorola’s clamshell output, it pains me to say that my first impression of the brand’s inaugural full-size foldable is… fine? There are some elements that I like, and some that I’m willing to be lenient on due to this being the first-generation model, but that price point is a bold statement and I’m just not sure that the specs can back it up. In particular, that IP49 dust and water resistance rating feels lacking.

As it stands, I think the Motorola Razr Fold has a chance to surpass the Pixel Fold as the bronze medal, but neither Samsung nor Honor should be particularly concerned about this late-in-the-game arrival usurping their spot. I’ll be getting my hands on the Motorola Razr Fold closer to its April release date, so keep an eye out to see my final verdict soon.

Written By

Ben Johnston

Reviews writer Ben has been with Expert Reviews since 2021, and in that time he’s established himself as an authority on all things mobile tech and audio. On top of testing and reviewing myriad smartphones, tablets, headphones, earbuds and speakers, Ben has turned his hand to the odd laptop hands-on preview and several gaming peripherals. He also regularly attends global industry events, including the Snapdragon Summit and the MWC trade show.

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