Motorola Razr Fold First Impressions: A standout foldable

Motorola is probably the pioneer when it comes to foldable devices, which makes the Razr Fold all the more surprising. When I got my hands on it in a Hollywood villa overlooking Los Angeles, it felt less like a repeat and more like a new take.

The first folding book by the phone maker includes all the knowledge gained from making folding clamshells from the first modern Razr in 2019 – the presentation of which I attended at the same event in Los Angeles. As advanced as it was to hold a smartphone folded in half, the folding niche has come a long way since then. The Motorola Razr Fold shows that the company has moved beyond the typical rookie mistakes of first-generation book-style folders. The Google Pixel Fold, for example, never looked completely flat — a problem the Razr Fold avoids and a clear advantage in this space.

My first impression of the Motorola Razr Fold, as I held it in my hand, was that it had the luxury and finish of a book-style fold that has been refined many times, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. It’s not the thinnest folding phone — just over 5mm thick when unfolded and about 10mm but folded at 8.6 ounces (243 grams).

The Razr Fold is also undeniably a Motorola phone, thanks to the design of its back, which is covered with a curved textured material to meet the camera bump, similar to the Moto G (2026). For the record, I find the texture to be excellent, with the matte feel of the lily white color and the cross-hatched nylon weave of the dark blue color.

Speaking of feel, the hinge and opening and closing of the Razr Fold feel satisfyingly solid — an odd but perhaps necessary confirmation that Motorola has successfully translated its clamshell technology into a book-style fold. What’s more, the Razr Fold is well-specced and competitively priced against rival folds: At $1,900, it sits between the $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the $1,800 Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The Motorola Razr Fold is available for pre-order on Motorola.com and retailers on May 14th and will go on sale on May 21st.

Watch this: Motorola Razr 2026 Phones Are Still Powerful In Your Pocket, Great Value

02:35

Details under the hood

The Razr Fold is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, which is slightly more powerful than the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, according to NanoReview’s benchmarks. With 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, the foldable is strong on paper; we look forward to seeing how its performance compares to Samsung and Google devices.

The Razr Fold’s cover’s 6.6-inch pOLED display is sharp and clear, as is its internal 8.1-inch LTPO OLED display, both of which are roughly the same size as the screens on other foldables. What sets them apart is how bright they can be, with peak brightness rated at 6,200 nits for the main display (unfolded) and 6,000 nits for the outer display (folded) — easily twice as much as most other phones, something I’m eager to test in difficult lighting conditions. That light would make the Razr Fold one of the best foldables for the beach or a picnic in the park, though it might drain the battery quickly.

If so, it’s a good thing that the Razr Fold packs a 6,000-mAh battery, which offers more power than its competitors — even the Galaxy Z TriFold. Even better, you can also charge the foldable with 80-watt wired charging and 50-watt wireless charging, much faster than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (25-watt wired) and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold (30-watt wired). Based on our extensive battery testing, I’d expect those speeds to recharge most of the Razr Fold in about half an hour (though we’ll have to confirm that in our review). The foldable also supports 5-watt wireless charging to share power with other devices.

The Razr Fold has some of the best cameras of any Motorola phone, featuring a triple 50-megapixel rear camera (main, ultrawide and telephoto). The telephoto uses a periscope lens with 3x optical zoom and up to 100x digital zoom. The front display has a sharp 32-megapixel selfie camera, which makes sense, since book-style foldable owners use the cover screen more often. When they open the Razr Fold, they will find a 20-megapixel camera for video calls and similar functions.

No book-style fold would feel complete without a stylus — or so we thought until Samsung dropped S Pen support on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. I had a chance to handle Motorola’s Moto Pen, though I didn’t have time to pair it with the Razr Fold. Conveniently tucked into its holster (which looks like a vape), the Moto Pen comes out easily, and the brief writing I tested on the Fold’s screen felt smooth enough. I’m not surprised that the phone maker behind the Moto G Stylus released a shiny digital pen, though I’m curious how its physical buttons work.

I have a laundry list of questions left to answer when we get our hands on the Motorola Razr Fold, from performance to camera capabilities to charging levels. It’s hard to get the full picture of a phone call with an hourly meet-and-greet at a luxury Los Angeles event venue. But I’m sure Motorola’s first book-style folding will be a great alternative for people who aren’t sure whether to pick it up from Samsung or Google. We’ll have to see if Motorola has enough time to make the Razr Fold when it goes on sale on May 21 before Apple grabs the limelight with its long-rumored foldable iPhone that’s expected to be released in September.