I Tested the Motorola Razr Ultra. It's Good, but Flipping Expensive

SCORE

Motorola Razr Ultra

Motorola Razr Ultra: Should you buy it?

If you have a 2019 Razr or the 2020 Razr 5G, the Razr Ultra will be an upgrade in every way. From the larger 4-inch cover screen that has even more functionality to the brighter, higher-resolution 7-inch display. If you’re coming from the 2023 Razr Plus, however, I’d only upgrade if your battery isn’t lasting as long on a charge as it used to. And if you have a 2024 Razr Plus; sit this one out.

If you’re deciding between the Razr Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 6, I’d push you towards Motorola’s flip phone if you can afford the $200 difference. But for most, I’d say wait. We’re likely getting a Galaxy Z Flip 7 this summer.

The Razr Ultra has an IP48 rating for water and dust resistance. The eight in the rating means it can be submerged in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. The four means it can withstand particles 1mm or larger. This is as good as it gets, folks, in terms of dust resistance for foldables in 2025, so keep that in mind if you work or travel in rough environments. And it’s great to see Motorola max out the Razr Ultra’s water and dust resistance to be the same as the Galaxy Z Flip 6.

The crease is hardly noticeable on the tall 7-inch display. Obviously in the photo above, we took it at an angle that makes it look like the Grand Canyon, but in reality, I forget about the crease when there’s content on the screen. It’s impressive how much Motorola was able to reduce the crease compared to previous models. When playing games or scrolling news and social feeds, I can barely feel it.

Motorola Razr displays

The shining star of the Razr Ultra is its 4-inch cover screen. The display is bright, and has a high resolution with a 417ppi density. It’s an AMOLED LTPO screen with an adaptive refresh rate that tops out at 165Hz. You can use the cover screen for pretty much anything you like. Most apps run on it, including games. I like using Spotify on the cover screen with the top half of the phone pointing up at a jaunty angle.

Motorola made it easy to manage the cover screen’s panels and customize widgets. I recommend using widgets for your favorite apps on the cover screen as some feel more optimized for the display. And if you’ve never used a foldable flip phone before, just know that having a cover screen as versatile and customizable as the one on the Razr Ultra will change the way you use your phone. The cover display is like my personal shortcut screen and interacting with it feels purposeful. I’m not as tempted to scroll through Instagram or find other distractions like I do on a regular phone.

There’s also Pay Attention, which is like Remember This but for audio (it’s essentially an audio recorder and transcriber). And there’s Catch Me Up for notifications. These Moto AI features could be handy, but I feel like I’ll need more than six days with them to really take advantage of them.

I don’t think Moto AI is the reason to buy the Razr Ultra, but this phone and the way it integrates different AI services might be one of the most versatile for AI that you can get at this time. And it points to one way to manage the multiple AI services competing for our attention.

Motorola Razr Ultra cameras

The Razr Ultra has a trio of lenses: wide-angle, ultrawide and a selfie. All have 50-megapixel sensors, which is incredible. Take a look at some of my favorite photos from the Razr Ultra.

I do want to acknowledge that Motorola has made improvements with the cameras compared to previous Razrs. Phone cameras, especially on foldables, are always at a disadvantage because there’s so little room for bigger sensors and lenses. But I think people who don’t consider themselves photographers will be fine with photos from the Razr Ultra — it’s so much fun for group shots and it’s a surprisingly great phone for video calls. But I wish the company went further. Photos from the Razr Ultra are B+ at best and that’s decent for a flip phone like this. I get the best results in places with lots of light. But the phone relies on a long shutter speed for snaps, which leads to a lot of motion blur.