Motorola’s new foldables for 2023, the Motorola RAZR and the Motorola RAZR Plus. These phones are being launched in the U.S., and that’s what they’ll be called.
Just to keep you on your toes, though, these phones have different names outside the States, being called the Motorola RAZR 40 and the Motorola RAZR 40 Ultra, respectively. I’ll call them by their U.S. release names here.
If you’re a fan of flip phones like me, you’ll love these devices. They have a sleek and modern design that reminds me of the classic Razr phones from the mid-2000s, but with a twist: they have foldable OLED screens that can bend in half without breaking.
The Motorola RAZR Plus has a huge 6.9-inch screen that is bigger than any current flip phone rivals. It has a 22:9 aspect ratio and 2640 x 1080 pixels. It also has a high refresh rate of 165Hz, which means it can display smooth animations and transitions. The Motorola RAZR has the same screen size and resolution, but a slightly lower refresh rate of 144Hz.
But what really sets these phones apart from the competition is their external displays. The Motorola RAZR Plus has the biggest cover screen yet, measuring 3.6 inches. It really dominates the outside of the phone, with the camera peeping through to maximize the full-screen effect. It is significantly bigger than on Samsung’s rival Galaxy Z Flip4.
It means, as it did on Oppo’s phone, that it’s great for taking photographs because as you’re shooting, your subject can see what they look like. If you’ve ever taken photos of someone, only to hand the phone to them to witness their utter disappointment with your handiwork, this problem is now solved. They can approve the framing of the shot, adjust their look and more before you press the shutter.
Beyond that, it is big enough to read emails, send texts and more without even unfolding the phone.
The Motorola RAZR has a smaller 1.5-inch external display, which looks tiny by comparison. It can still show notifications and basic controls, but it’s not as useful as the RAZR Plus’s screen.
The RAZR Plus runs on 2022’s flagship processor, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. It might be a year old, and it’s somewhat surprising to see the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 in a premium release in 2023. Still, the processor is a powerhouse that runs the Android operating system and any app in the Google Play Store quickly and smoothly.
The RAZR has a decent but slightly slower chip, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1.
The RAZR Plus has a dual-lens camera with smaller 12 and 13 megapixel counts than you’d find on regular flat phones, like the Galaxy S23’s 50MP camera, but I still expect camera performance to be excellent. After all, Google’s Pixel 6a has a 12MP camera that easily competes with phones that cost three times as much with four or more times the megapixels.
The RAZR has a higher-resolution 64MP main camera but the same 13MP ultrawide lens as the RAZR Plus.
One benefit for the RAZR is that the smaller display means there’s room for a slightly bigger battery.
Not all pricing has been declared yet. The RAZR Plus costs $999, or £1,049.99 in the U.K. The cost ofthe regular RAZR hasn’t been disclosed for the States, though the U.K. pricemay give us an inkling: it’s £799.99, which is more than 20% cheaper, soperhaps we can expect something in the order of $750-$800.
The RAZR Plus goes on sale later this month, with the RAZR to follow.
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