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Smartphones with foldable displays have been around for a few years, but they still tend to be wildly more expensive than models with screens that don’t bend. Enter the new Motorola razr (2023) smartphone, which goes up for pre-order on October 12, 2023 for $599 and should be available in the US starting October 12. Kind of.
The list price is actually $699, but Phone Arena notes that Best Buy will be selling the phone for $100 off at launch. The phone hits that price point thanks to a mix of premium and mid-range features. It has a foldable FHD+ AMOLED display with a high screen refresh rate, plus a smaller cover display. But it also has a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 processor rather than a Snapdragon 8 series chip.
Like ever member of the Razr family to date, the new smartphone folds in half at the middle, giving you a smaller device that you can slip into your pocket or handbag. And when you unfold the screen, you have a nice big display… or the option of unfolding the phone half way and propping it up so that the bottom of the phone works like a stand for holding up a camera, among other things.
The cover display is a 1.5 inch OLED screen which is just large enough to display the time, weather, notifications, or media controls. If you want a bigger cover display that you can actually use to run Android apps, you’ll want the Razr+ which launched earlier this year for $1,000 (or maybe one of Samsung or Google’s foldables).
Motorola’s cheaper model also has slower memory and storage, and a different camera system.
But the primary display on the Motorola razr (2023) is nearly identical to the one on the Razr+. Both are 6.9 inch, 2640 x 1080 pixel LTPO pAMOLED screens with up to 1,400 nits peak brightness. The only real difference is that the razr+ display supports refresh rates up to 165 Hz, while the razr (2023) tops out at “only” 144 Hz.
Here’s how the two phones stack up against one another:
| razr+ | razr (2023) | |
| Display (primary) | 6.9 inches 2640 x 1080 pixels LTPO pOLED 165 Hz 1,400 nits peak brightness HDR10+ | 6.9 inches 2640 x 1080 pixels LTPO pOLED 144 Hz 1,400 nits peak brightness HDR10+ |
| Display (cover) | 3.6 inches 1066 x 1056px OLED 1,100 nits peak brightness 144 Hz | 1.5 inches 368 x 194 pixels 60 Hz 1,000 nits peak brightness |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 |
| RAM | 8GB or 12GB LPDDR5 | 8GB LPDDR4X |
| Storage | 256GB or 512GB UFS 3.1 | 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.2 |
| Cameras | 12MP (primary) 13MP (ultrawide + macro) 32MP (front-facing) | 64MP (primary) 13MP (ultrawide + macro) 32MP (front-facing) |
| Battery | 3,800 mAh | 4,200 mAh |
| Ports | USB 2.0 Type-C | |
| Security | Fingerprint sensor (side) Face unlock | |
| Charging | 30W (wired) 5W (wireless) | |
| Water resistance | IP52 | |
| Dimensions | 170.82 x 73.95 x 7.35mm (open) 88.24 x 73.95 x 15.8mm (closed) | 170.83 x 73.95 x 6.99mm (open) 88.42 x 73.95 x 15.1mm (closed) |
| Weight | 189 grams | 184.5 grams (Magenta) 188.5 grams (Black or Blue) |
| Software | Android 13 3 major OS updates | |
| Starting Price | $1000 | $700 |
no more candy bar phone erection? and I don’t have to drop almost 1k for a glorified gluestick either? Make it under $400 and it is automatically the best foldable.
I get the feeling that sticking a phone like this in your waistband (as in image 3 of 9) as a substitute for the pockets you don’t have because pockets are not IN this year is probably not a very good idea. You’ll probably have the very top edge rubbing against the presumably exposed edges of the sides of the screen.
I wonder if the warranty will cover damages incurred this way, after all, the marketing photo suggested it was a manufacturer approved way to carry it.