Motorola Razr Fold Review: A Real Alternative to Samsung’s Foldables

Verdict: A Premium Foldable That Earns Its Place

The Motorola Razr Fold is a premium book-style foldable phone that combines thin hardware, bright LTPO pOLED displays, strong cameras, and high-end performance to challenge established foldable flagships in a compact tablet-style form factor.

This Motorola Razr Fold review is clear on one thing: Motorola’s first classic book-style foldable is not a half step; it is a direct shot at Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line. Motorola has taken the lessons from its flip-style Razr devices and produced a thin, polished foldable that feels ready for prime time. It offers two sharp, bright screens, a capable Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and a camera package that can genuinely compete at the top end. The trade-off is cost – this is a very expensive phone that “costs twice as much as other great phones out there” – and some lingering foldable quirks like the visible inner crease and fragile inner glass. For power users and early adopters looking for a Samsung foldable alternative, though, it finally feels like a credible option.

Design and Displays: Ultra-Thin Book-Style Foldable

The Razr Fold opens like a book rather than an old-school flip phone, marking Motorola’s entry into the classic tablet-style foldable segment. Closed, it passes for a regular slab phone thanks to a textured, rubberized back and only slightly extra thickness, though the camera bump adds noticeable depth. Unfolded, it becomes impressively thin at 0.19 inches, even edging out ultra-thin flagships like the Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air when you ignore camera bumps. At 8.6 ounces, it is a little heavy, but still in line with other large flagships.

The external 21:9 display is a 6.6-inch 1080x2520 LTPO pOLED panel running up to 165Hz, while the internal nearly-square screen stretches to 8.1 inches at 2232x2484 with a 120Hz refresh rate. Both are sharp and bright, and they push enough brightness to punch through reflections, though the inner folding seam shows glare and remains easy to see on dark content or off-axis. The outer screen uses Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, while the inner relies on Ultra Thin Glass, so you need to treat the inside more carefully. The IP49 rating means it can keep out a fair bit of dust and survive splashes and water jets, which is a welcome step up from early foldables.

Performance, Gaming, and Media: Thin Yet Fast

The Razr Fold runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, falling just under the very top “Elite” tier but staying close in day-to-day use. Despite its ultra-thin chassis, performance holds up. In a half-hour session of Neverness to Everness at max cinematic settings, the phone delivered mostly smooth 60FPS gameplay with only occasional stutters and did not become noticeably warm at the end of the session. In 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light stress test, it managed around 70% consistency, showing respectable sustained performance rather than short bursts followed by heavy throttling.

Benchmarks from a broader foldable phone comparison show the Razr Fold’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and Adreno 829 combo hanging alongside devices like the Galaxy Z Fold7 with Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and rival foldables using Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chips. In practice, that means fast app launches, smooth multitasking on the big inner display, and gaming performance that is more than enough for most users. Media lovers benefit from two bright LTPO pOLED screens and loud stereo speakers that match the display quality, making this one of the better book-style foldables for watching 16:9 and 4:3 content. The outer display suits ultra-wide cinema, while the inner panel gives you a larger canvas than many competitors for video and comics.

“The Razr Fold offers two great displays in a form factor that’s not unwieldy… Squeeze in killer cameras and long-term support, and you’ve got a solid piece of kit, if only it didn’t cost twice as much as other great phones out there.”

Cameras, Features, and Long-Term Support

Motorola did not cut corners on the Razr Fold’s camera setup. It equips a triple-sensor rear array designed to rival the best from Samsung, OnePlus, and Google, and complements it with sharp selfie cameras. The result is a “rather excellent all around shooter for big and small subjects near and far,” helped by the flexibility of the outer and inner screens for framing and previewing shots. The big inner display makes photo review and editing comfortable, while the outer screen lets you use the main cameras for selfies.

On the feature side, Motorola caters to creatives and note-takers with support for a pressure-sensitive active stylus that performed well in testing. It is an optional accessory, though, and it neither magnetically attaches to the phone nor charges from it; instead, it lives in its own charging sleeve. A 5Gbps USB-C port with DisplayPort 1.2 output turns the Razr Fold into a pseudo-desktop when connected to an external monitor, which adds to its appeal as a productivity device. Security and convenience are covered by both facial recognition and a fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button, usable whether the phone is open or closed.

Software support is a quiet strength. Motorola promises seven years of Android OS and security updates, putting it on par with long-support rivals and reassuring anyone eyeing a foldable as a long-term investment. The Android implementation is relatively clean, with modest AI hooks and flexible customization options such as adjustable quick settings tiles and home screen grid sizes. The biggest omissions are the lack of a microSD slot, despite a SIM tray long enough to accommodate one, and the absence of dual-SIM support – frustrating given the visible dead space in the tray.

How It Stacks Up Against Samsung’s Foldables

Motorola clearly designed the Razr Fold as a Samsung foldable alternative rather than a niche experiment. Its performance is described as “enough to rival the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and even the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra” despite Samsung’s use of the more advanced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. Benchmark comparisons reinforce that the Razr Fold’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and Adreno 829 hardware sits in the same performance class as leading book-style foldables from Samsung, Honor, Oppo, and Huawei. In other words, you are not sacrificing speed by stepping away from Samsung’s ecosystem.

Where Motorola leans ahead is design thinness and display experience. The 0.19-inch unfolded profile makes it more svelte than many rivals, and the combination of a 165Hz outer screen and large nearly-square inner panel is particularly friendly to mixed media use, from ultra-wide films to 16:9 streaming and comics. On the flip side, Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra may pull ahead in camera hardware and long-matured foldable software tricks, though “it will likely have its work cut out for it beating the Razr Fold.” Motorola’s promise of seven years of updates removes one of Samsung’s traditional advantages and makes this book-style foldable comparison closer than ever.

Motorola has “successfully taken its skills designing flip phones and applied them to folding for a device that’s not only great on its own but ready to stand up to competition from Samsung and the broader smartphone scene.” That said, the Razr Fold’s very high price and lingering foldable quirks mean it is not a one-size-fits-all recommendation. It is best seen as a premium choice for users who know they want a big-screen foldable and are willing to pay for a thinner, brighter, non-Samsung option.

Buy if / Skip if

• Buy the Motorola Razr Fold if you want a premium book-style foldable that directly competes with Galaxy Z Fold models but is thinner and brighter.
• Skip the Motorola Razr Fold if you prefer to avoid first-generation designs in a new form factor and want a more proven foldable ecosystem.
• Buy the Motorola Razr Fold if you value two high-refresh LTPO pOLED displays and loud stereo speakers for heavy media consumption.
• Skip the Motorola Razr Fold if you need microSD expansion or dual-SIM support, since the SIM tray has dead space but still only holds one SIM.
• Buy the Motorola Razr Fold if you care about long-term software support and plan to keep your phone for many years, thanks to seven years of Android and security updates.
• Skip the Motorola Razr Fold if you want maximum durability from your main display, because the inner Ultra Thin Glass and visible crease still lag behind standard slabs in toughness.
• Buy the Motorola Razr Fold if you are a creative user who will make use of the optional pressure-sensitive stylus and DisplayPort output for sketching and desktop-style work.