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The Motorola Razr Fold is the third Motorola phone I’ve reviewed in 2026, after the Razr (2026) and Edge 70 Fusion, and following on from not only many other Moto phones last year, but also a host of devices from other brands.
I go into almost every device review with no preconceived ideas, but after a week into using the Razr Fold, I already know it’s the best Motorola phone I’ve used in ages.
Someone thought about the design
Not everything has to be flat
Several things have immediately warmed me to the Razr Fold, and the first is the way you open up the foldable phone.
Despite it sounding like a basic thing, opening a foldable takes more than gripping the edges and opening it like a book.
The industry’s obsession with flat sides, and the ever-decreasing thickness of big-screen foldables, often makes doing so a bit awkward.
They often need a tight grip, and it’s surprisingly easy to fumble the phone, leading to an expensive disaster.
Motorola’s design team knows what fingers look like, how humans grip things, and what a well-balanced hinge mechanism should feel like.
The edge of the folded Razr Fold is concave, not flat. It’s just enough for the pads of your thumbs to find a solid grip, without overly affecting the visual design.
It encourages you to open the phone, and never requires additional grip or a special hold to operate. It’s simple, refined, and shockingly effective.
The hinge is also weighted correctly, with resistance in the right places, and a lightness at certain spots to make it feel easy and free-flowing.
The only downside with the design is that the power key is a bit awkward to locate and press until you get used to its placement.
In addition to the clever edge design is a textured back for grip, a camera module that blends into the rear panel so it doesn’t feel uncomfortable when holding the phone, and dimensions, 9.9 mm closed and 243 grams, that sound large and ungainly, but are in reality entirely manageable.
The missing Motorola feature is back
Hallelujah
For some reason, Motorola treats a true always-on screen — where it’s on all the time if you want it — as a premium feature, unavailable on many of its low and mid-range phones.
The Razr Fold is a high-end phone, and therefore it has a fully functional always-on screen. Not when you tap it or come into close contact, but one you can set to a schedule and see on the cover screen at all times.
Motorola’s always-on screen is one of the best. It shows the time, date, and notification icons clearly, and they’re large enough to be obvious even at a distance.
This is how I use it. I need a glanceable screen when I walk past the phone on my way to do something else, and it’s why I get annoyed when Motorola holds the feature back.
A camera system made to use
A great balance of ability
Motorola’s cameras are a mixed bag and often lack consistency, with specs being clearly built to a budget. The Razr Fold doesn’t fully buck the trend, but it gets a lot right.
The best part is the combination of a great main camera and a useful 3x telephoto zoom. This combo gives just the right amount of versatility so the Razr Fold can take good photos in a variety of scenarios.
The 3x zoom is more useful in more situations than a 2x or a 5x telephoto, and the Razr Fold’s 3x takes good photos with plenty of detail.
The main camera balances color pop with good exposure and contrast, so you can get creative without digging into a manual mode.
Because the Razr Fold uses Google Photos, there are a lot of editing tools, and it makes fantastic use of the big open screen.
The camera isn’t perfect, and some typical Moto problems remain, mostly around how it recognizes color, which can make photos look unnatural and poorly processed.
It’s livable though, and only encourages you to play with Google Photos editing tools.
Great software and performance
Nothing you don’t need
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is Qualcomm’s sleeper hit. It never feels like there’s any performance downgrade compared to the Elite version. It’s better at coping with heat build-up, and it’s likely cheaper for manufacturers.
It’s a great fit here, powering the Razr Fold without issue, and avoiding the use of complex cooling systems to make sure it doesn’t overheat. I have had no complaints yet.
The same goes for the Android 16 software. Yes, Motorola insists on installing some apps, but it’s fewer than on the Edge 70 Fusion I reviewed last.
Motorola has AI features, but you can ignore them and just use Google Gemini, which is fast and easily activated.
The Android interface is clean and responsive, and the multitasking options are logical and easy to use.
It also avoids issues I found with the Honor Magic V6, where Chrome wouldn’t run in split-screen mode.
So it’s all fantastic?
Almost, but not quite
These are the elements that have made the Razr Fold a pleasure to use over the last week, and have already propelled it to the top of my Motorola phone list.
It’s a very well-designed, useful, capable, and attractive smartphone.
I’ve not finished reviewing the phone yet, but a couple of issues have shown up to slightly spoil the Razr Fold’s otherwise great impression.
Battery life is average and nothing more. I’ve noticed the modem has a hard time in low-connectivity locations, and it will hang even with one or two bars of 5G signal here in the UK.
Finally, there’s the price. At $1,900 it’s no bargain, but Motorola often has special deals to reduce the cost of its phones, and the Razr Fold will be a great one to pick up should the chance arise.
I’ll have our full review of the Razr Fold soon, but things are looking very good indeed for Motorola’s first big-screen folding phone.
