Motorola Razr 50/razr (2024) review

Design, build quality, handling

What would happen if you took last year's Razr 40 Ultra and made it water-resistant? You'd end up with the Razr 50, that's what. Obviously, both are most welcome developments that make the Razr 50 a lot more competitive against the Galaxy Z Flips that it's taking on.

The new vanilla model gets a display upgrade on the cover, the 3.6-inch panel with the two camera holes making for a very distinct Razr look. The panel is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, just like it was on the 40 Ultra, and also on the 50 Ultra. There's still enough of a divide between the two models from this generation, the flagship clamshell having a cover display that reaches all the way to the edge of the top half, while the plain model has a strip of eco leather, like the one that covers the other half's back.

Our review unit is the Spritz Orange colorway, which may be called Arabesque in some markets. The other variants go by Beach Sand (Pumice Stone) and Koala Grey (Steel Wool)

Beach Sand • Beach Sand • Koala Grey

The frame around the periphery of the phone is made of aluminum (6000 series vs. the Ultra's potentially tougher 7000 series frame) while the outer hinge cover is stainless steel. Both materials are finished to the same satin sheen.

The hinge allows the phone to be left open at any angle within a certain range, enabling the usual use cases like a tabletop 'tripod' or overhead or waist-level shooting. A camcorder mode is also made possible thanks to the mechanism's stability.

Once fully opened, the Razr treats you to that large OLED display that's nicely flat in the middle. That is to say, it's tangibly flatter than the Galaxy Flips, but there's still a bit of a gentle waviness if you go looking for it.

We're of the opinion that in actual use your brain makes the crease disappear and it's mostly reviewers that theorize about its impact on your fingertips. But since that's us, we keep yearning for that ideally flat panel. Well this one isn't it, but it's pretty close. Ah, and don't go peeling that protector off.

The Razr 50 folds flat, of course - the early Motorola foldables already did that, way before Samsungs reached that milestone just a year ago.

Our review unit has a single physical SIM slot (nano), but it does support eSIM so you can use it in a dual SIM configuration and you can also enjoy the benefits of eSIM when traveling. The tray does look like it could be able to handle two nano chips, and indeed there's a version of the Razr with dual nano SIM support, but no eSIM.

The control layout is the same as on any other clamshell foldable, basically. The power button and the volume keys are both in the top half and function as expected, though the volume buttons are on the small side.

There's a capacitive fingerprint reader in the power button and we found it to work very reliably, including with the left index finger which isn't necessarily a most natural exercise.