Wood you look at that.
Motorola is kicking off hot foldable summer in style — and a little early this year. This time around it’s offering not two but three Razr models with the introduction of the premium Razr Ultra. It comes with some notable upgrades, and all three phones get some quality-of-life improvements like a sturdier hinge. But the hardware updates are otherwise minimal while Moto leans hard into eye-catching colors and finishes for its fun flip phone.
Let’s just say it up front: the Ultra costs $1,299. That’s like, Samsung Galaxy Ultra territory, which is just a lot of money for a phone. For that price you get a generous 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage in the base model and a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is the Android flagship processor du jour. The Ultra offers up to 30W wireless charging and 68W wired charging. It also has a slightly larger 7-inch inner screen than the Razr and Razr Plus, which gets a little brighter at up to 4,500 nits compared to 3,000 nits. Oh, and there’s a dedicated AI button, which… more on that in a sec.
The Ultra shares the same 4-inch outer screen size as the Razr Plus, but the Razr Ultra has some differentiating hardware in the camera department. The main, ultrawide, and selfie cameras each have 50 megapixel sensors. The Razr and Razr Plus also offer 50-megapixel main cameras, but the Ultra’s sensor uses bigger pixels: 2.0μm binned “quad pixels” versus 0.8μm on the other two.
Here’s the thing though: wood grain back panel. The Ultra gets some fun new finishes, including a real wood back panel that’s giving Moto X. More wood gadgets, please. There’s also something called Alcantara that you may have seen once upon a time on a Microsoft Surface. It’s a synthetic fabric with kind of a suede feel and comes in a dark green that I really dig, too. The Ultra also comes in a textured deep red finish and a magenta-ish pink that looks at home on the Razr line.
All three phones come with an updated hinge that uses titanium rather than stainless steel, and Motorola says it’s four times stronger than the previous design. It also reduces the inner screen crease when the phone is flipped open. I never found the crease too bothersome to start with, but it practically disappears on these new phones, and you can barely feel it under your finger. It’s kind of spooky.
All three Razr models come with an IP48 rating this time, like Samsung’s Z Flip 6 foldables. That means they’re fully water-resistant, but dust is still a concern. That “4” rating means the phones are protected against particles bigger than 1mm, but dust is smaller than that, so you’ll still want to be careful if you bring your Razr to the beach. Otherwise, the standard Razr and Razr Plus are pretty minor refreshes. The Razr Plus still uses a Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 chipset like last year’s model, though the Razr gets a bump up from a Dimensity 7300X to a 7400X chipset.
Remember that AI button on the Ultra? Well, Motorola is formally introducing several AI features across the Razr lineup, most of which we’ve seen previously in beta. They’re all housed in an interface called Moto AI, which is available to all three Razrs — though only the Ultra has a physical shortcut button to get there. And honestly they look more promising than the usual AI gimmicks — though there are AI gimmicks here, too. I’m particularly interested to see how “Remember this” works. It’s designed in the same vein as Pixel Screenshots and Nothing’s Essential Space, offering a place to keep screenshots, photos, and notes handy without having to go find them in different apps.
You can ask Moto AI to “remember” something and then you can ask about it later. You can also prompt it with “Catch me up” to summarize recent notifications that came in while you were busy. Could be handy! Motorola has also announced a partnership with Perplexity, which you can access through Moto AI, and also helps power some predictive suggestions. But as with all AI features right now, we need to see if it actually does what it’s supposed to before getting too excited.
There’s no wood grain option on the regular Razr or Razr Plus, boooo, but there are plenty of new colors and finishes to choose from. Last year’s mocha mousse is back on the Razr Plus, and the standard Razr comes in a fun minty green that kept catching my eye at Moto’s launch event.
The non-Ultra Razrs cost the same as their predecessors — $999 for the 2025 Razr Plus and $699 for the Razr. All three phones will be available for preorder in the US on May 7th and go on sale May 15th.
Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge
