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I hope you're sitting down. I'm going to give you some news that may be shocking: It has been, perplexingly, 20 years since the launch of the original Motorola Razr (known back then as the RAZR V3). Twenty years! Where has all the time gone?
Well, never mind that. Motorola has a new version to celebrate: the Motorola Razr and Razr+ (called the “Razr 50” and “Razr 50 Ultra” globally). The company has been making these folding flip phone versions of the Razr since 2019, but this third iteration is the first time we're seeing the return of the Hot Pink™ Razr, though it's exclusive to the pricier Plus model.
Popularized by the likes of Paris Hilton—who will be DJing a Motorola event later today in New York City—the pink Razr was the phone to get in the early 2000s. Even my mom had one.
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Motorola is on a hot streak—the company says it's number one in the folding flip phone category in the US, which grew by three times in the past year, and Motorola is claiming 75 percent of this market share (bad news for Samsung, which is expected to launch new folding phones in July).
Motorola even says one out of every five Razr users switched from an iPhone—a coveted stat that'll make any Android manufacturer sing. The popularity of folding flip phones isn't surprising—these are standard smartphones you can fold in half, offering the same big screen experience you're used to in an amazingly compact form that can fit in the tiniest pockets. That's hot.
The Razr and Razr+ cost $700 and $1,000, respectively, and both of these smartphones will be available for preorder on July 10, with official sales starting on July 24. Here's what's new.
Big Screen Love
The biggest change in the new Razr models is the external screen. Every flip phone maker has been enlarging the cover screen, and the Razr+ purportedly has the largest to date at 4 inches, which is 17 percent larger than last year's model. The standard Razr gets a smaller bump up to 3.6 inches, but that's still 2.5 times larger than its predecessor.
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These handsets have a mix of vegan leather and suede designs and come in several colors. The Razr+ is available in Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Hot Pink, and Peach Fuzz, whereas the Razr comes in Koala Grey, Beach Sand, and Spritz Orange. They look and feel luxe, though I will note that these soft-back designs do seem to pick up dirt quite easily.
Motorola says its Razr customers spend roughly 75 minutes per day using this external screen, so to take advantage of the extra real estate, there are new panels you can swipe through, such as one for Google Photos, so you can share or delete photos without having to open the device up; a Spotify panel to control music playback; and a Bose panel that offers up quick controls to your Bose earbuds or headphones. Existing panels, like the weather, calendar, and contacts, have been redesigned to offer a cleaner look and take advantage of the bigger screen, and you can now add widgets, offering further customizability and more functions from the external screen. Both devices now support an always-on screen, so you don't have to wake the phone to see the time.
The hinge is 30 percent smaller, and Motorola says it offers better dust protection and durability, and it's supposed to be easier to flip open and close with one hand (I still had a bit of trouble with this in my brief hands-on time). The phone has an IPX8 rating, meaning it'll be fine if submerged in water, but it has not been tested for dust protection. It uses Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus glass to protect the external display.
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Open the Razr phones up and you're treated to a 6.9-inch pOLED display, with the Razr+ supporting a 165-Hz screen refresh rate and the Razr getting a 120-Hz panel. Both have low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) technology, which allows the screen to adjust the refresh rate to conserve battery life. The peak brightness has gotten a boost up to 3,000 nits, too. (The external screen hits 2,400 nits on the Razr+ and 1,700 nits on the Razr; the latter's cover screen supports only a 90-Hz refresh rate.)
The Razr+ is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor and 12 GB of RAM—a slightly lesser version of the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip inside most top-end Android smartphones. It also has a 4,000-mAh battery and supports 45-watt charging for speedier recharges.
The cheaper Razr gets a MediaTek Dimensity 7300X and 8 GB of RAM, plus a 4,200-mAh battery with 30-watt charging; both have 15-watt wireless charging support. Both also have 256 GB of internal storage.
As for the cameras, Motorola has stuffed a 50-MP primary camera on both these devices with optical image stabilization support. Where things diverge is the second camera: Say hello to a 2X optical zoom telephoto on the Razr+, whereas the standard Razr sticks with a 13-MP ultrawide like its predecessors. Most phones today offer greater zoom capabilities than 2X, but Motorola says it found its customers tend to zoom in more and shoot more portraits. There's a 32-MP selfie camera on the inner display for both.
One thing I really love is camcorder mode. This is an existing feature that lets you use the Razr as a camcorder when the hinge is at a 90-degree angle and the phone is held sideways. New in the latest models is Auto Camcorder Mode, meaning the handsets will automatically start recording when it's held in the right orientation in the camera app. Plus, you have the option to record these videos in portrait or landscape.
AI Infusion
It wouldn't be a product launch in 2024 without artificial intelligence in the mix, though Motorola has made some interesting moves here. You're now able to use Google's Gemini chatbot app from the external display (you can also use your voice with the “Hey Google” command). Razr users will also get three months of the Google One AI Premium Plan for free—it includes access to Gemini Advanced, 2 TB of cloud storage, and a few other perks.
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Cameras have never been a strong suit for Motorola, but it's giving special emphasis to the new “Photo Enhancement Engine” that's exclusive to the Razr+. The company says it “uses AI” to produce finer image details, better dynamic range, improved bokeh, and more advanced noise reduction, all on the uncompressed raw image data. The Razr+ also gets a few extra camera features, such as Adaptive Stabilization for smoother videos, Action Shot for when you capture moving subjects, Long Exposure to create light trails, and Super Zoom, which enhances your zoomed-in photos. I'm not sure how much “AI” has to do with some of these.
There are two generative AI features, too: Style Sync and Image Canvas. The former lets you snap a picture of your outfit (or any kind of special texture), and it'll generate four images using that pattern that you can then use as a wallpaper. Magic Canvas lets you generate images via a text prompt. These two features are available on both Razrs.
Later in the fall, Motorola will launch “Moto AI," which it says is powered by both in-house and Google's large language models. This will include features like “Catch me up,” which will summarize your clutter of notifications so you can focus on what's important. A “Pay attention” feature will enable the phone to start recording instantly and transcribe and summarize the recording automatically. Then there's “Remember this,” which can save onscreen information that you can ask the device for later.
Unfortunately, all this AI power doesn't help Motorola improve its software update policy. These new Razr smartphones will only get three Android OS updates (they launch with Android 14), and four years of security updates.
For comparison, Google and Samsung offer seven years of software updates on their flagship phones. Longer software support means more features down the road, bug fixes, and security patches.
Accompanying these new phones is the Moto Tag, a small AirTags-like accessory that supports Bluetooth LE and ultra-wideband tech to help locate lost devices. It uses Google's Find My Device network and will work with any Android phone. However, if you use it with a Moto smartphone, you can press the multifunction button on the Tag to remotely capture a photo.
