Motorola Razr Fold Review: A Marathon Foldable

With the Razr Fold, Motorola finally moves up a size class. After years of refining clamshell designs, the company has switched to the book format, turning the handset into a small tablet the moment it is opened. It is an ambitious first attempt in a segment that already has well-established competition.

Launched in spring 2026 with a stylus included, the Razr Fold leads on two large displays, a 6000 mAh battery supporting 80 W wired and 50 W wireless charging, and a versatile trio of cameras. The choice of a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, rather than the Elite version of that silicon, is its most conspicuous specification compromise.

The Razr Fold is unmistakably a large-format device. Closed it measures 160.05 x 73.6 x 9.89 mm, and opened it comes out at 160.05 x 144.47 x 4.55 mm. At 243 g it is heavier than several of its direct rivals, and it does not go unnoticed in a pocket. In the hand, though, the balance makes it feel less burdensome than the figures suggest.

That thickness has its uses. There is enough to grip that the phone can be opened in a single motion, which is not true of every ultra-thin foldable released recently. The flat edges help, as does the matt metal frame, which is less slippery and less prone to showing fingerprints.

Motorola leans into its fashion and lifestyle positioning with two Pantone-certified finishes, Blackened Blue and Lily White. The textured back is pleasant to hold, although dust and lint seem to find it hospitable. The camera housing protrudes noticeably, but its gradual slope — a Motorola signature — integrates it more elegantly than a slab simply stuck onto the rear panel would.

The steel hinge uses a teardrop mechanism. It offers increased resistance, damps the movement properly and shows no notable play. Inside, the 8.1-inch display takes up more than 91% of the available surface, with slim bezels and a crease that is barely visible. Outside, the 6.6-inch panel covers close to 86% of the front face and is protected by Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3.

The controls take a little getting used to. The fingerprint reader built into the power button is effective, but it sits quite high on the right-hand edge, with the volume keys beside it and the AI button directly opposite. Once the phone is closed, that symmetry can lead to a few mis-aimed presses. Nothing serious, but the reflex does not arrive instantly.

Connectivity is comprehensive, with 5G, eSIM, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The 50 W wireless charging is welcome, though the absence of Qi2 means magnetic accessories lose much of their point. The IP48/49 specification covers resistance to small particles, immersion to 1.5 m for 30 minutes and hot water jets. The compatible stylus included at launch rounds out the package for drawing or note-taking.

Opened out, the Razr Fold uses an 8.1-inch P-OLED panel running 2232 x 2484 pixels, which works out at 410 ppi. LTPO technology allows an adaptive refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz, so the screen drops very low to save power and climbs to maximum when smoothness matters.

Motorola quotes a peak of 6,200 cd/m², but the measured ceiling was 2,215 cd/m² — a very comfortable level in sunlight, helped by a contained 38% reflectance. In darkness the panel drops to 1.98 cd/m². The headline claim therefore appears to apply only to small areas under specific conditions. As an OLED, it shows no image persistence.

Colour accuracy does require a trip into the settings. Out of the box the inner screen reads a colour temperature of 6,937 K with a delta E of 5.2 — pronounced drift by any measure. Switching to the Natural Colours mode brings the temperature down to 6,261 K and the delta E down to 2.38.

On the outside, the 6.6-inch 21:9 LTPO P-OLED climbs as high as 165 Hz. That bonus will chiefly interest gamers, but it also makes scrolling notably smooth. Measured brightness ranges from 2.13 to 2,092 cd/m² with roughly 41% reflectance, and here too the Natural mode produces a more accurate image: 6,335 K and a delta E of 1.92, against 6,900 K and 3.69 by default. Both panels handle HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.

The Razr Fold runs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 with 16 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage in its single configuration. The naming matters here, because this is not the Elite version of that generation used by some newer high-end handsets.

The chip is nonetheless a strong one. Built on a 3 nm process, it brings together eight Oryon cores — two Prime cores clocked at 3.8 GHz and six performance cores reaching 3.32 GHz — with graphics handled by an Adreno 829. It is not the absolute summit of Qualcomm's catalogue, but it sits firmly in the upper tier.

Reported testing found that the handset never felt short of breath. The high refresh rate on both screens contributes to the sense of fluidity, with crisp animations and very responsive navigation. Messaging, web browsing and productivity work follow one another without pause, and juggling ten or so apps leaves the device unruffled.

Benchmarks nonetheless place the Razr Fold behind some devices that are better armed on paper. In mobile gaming it appears to hold something back to avoid overheating: the recorded frame rate was fairly stable at 62 fps on average with peaks of 71 fps. A slight warming builds up quickly, though it is well distributed across the body.

The Razr Fold carries three 50-megapixel sensors. The main unit sits behind a wide-angle lens opening at f/1.6, the ultra-wide at f/2 and the 3x telephoto at f/2.4 — a versatile trio.

Main camera: 50 MP, f/1.6, 23 mm equivalent

In daylight the main sensor performs genuinely well. Sharpness at the centre of the frame is convincing, with plenty of legible detail in text, fibres and other small elements. Colours are pleasing without looking exaggerated, and there is a slight tendency to overexpose. The edges are a little less precise, and some chromatic aberration creeps in, particularly around moiré effects.

At night the camera holds some pleasant surprises. Exposure is well controlled and the scene stays readable even in the darker areas. Sharpness naturally falls away compared with daytime shots, with slightly smoothed textures and less crisp micro-detail. Colours lean warm, giving a fairly natural result.

Ultra-wide camera: 50 MP, f/2, 12 mm equivalent

In good light the ultra-wide produces flattering images, if slightly overexposed, with vivid colours and reasonably solid dynamic range. The centre is very detailed, but sharpness drops off quickly towards the edges, which are blurrier and show the distortion typical of this kind of lens.

Night shots do the job while making the limits of the format clear. Exposure is better judged and the scene remains readable, but the image is less precise, especially in the corners, and small elements suffer from software smoothing. Noise is contained, enough to reinforce the impression of sharpness, though the overall result is a step behind.

Telephoto camera: 50 MP, f/2.4, 71 mm equivalent

By day the telephoto delivers a readable and fairly convincing image, even if cropping into the centre of the frame gives a slight impression of softness. Colours remain faithful, exposure is well managed, and there is no digital noise or genuinely troublesome vignetting.

There had to be a caveat. In low light the photographs stay usable and exposure is correct, but the rendering becomes distinctly more approximate. Noise stays discreet thanks to the smoothing, at the cost of a fair amount of detail and texture.

Selfies, portrait mode and video

For selfies the Razr Fold takes a conventional approach, with a 20 MP f/2.4 sensor in a centred punch-hole at the top of the external screen and a 32 MP f/2.4 unit on the inner panel. In practice the self-portraits come out well, with a flattering rendering, though the processing sometimes softens faces a little too much. Portrait mode also performs well, thanks to a clean cut-out and sufficient detail.

Video specifications are appealing: 8K at 30 fps, 4K or Full HD up to 240 fps, and Dolby Vision support. That is high-end territory, although the results are not entirely faultless, with some scenes coming out a shade too bright and stabilisation occasionally proving capricious. The front cameras remain convincing in both 4K and 1080p.

Endurance is where the Razr Fold scores heavily. Motorola has fitted a generous 6000 mAh cell using silicon-carbon chemistry, a technology intended to store more energy without turning the phone into a folding brick. The result is excellent: an average of 32 hours and 11 minutes on a protocol simulating conventional use, made up of 28 hours 29 minutes when working with the phone open and up to 35 hours 54 minutes when limited to the external screen.

In a category that does not always shine away from a socket, that is a genuine pleasure to see. Wired charging supports 80 W, and a full refill in the recorded test took 1 hour 10 minutes. Wireless charging at 50 W and reverse wireless charging at 5 W round out the package.

Motorola also commits to seven years of Android updates, which finally brings its support policy into line with the best in the segment.