Motorola Razr 50 Ultra/razr+ (2024) review

Introduction

The next foldable Razr generation is here, bringing small but important improvements over the Razr 40 series. Today, we are going to explore the most premium Razr 50 smartphone - the Razr 50 Ultra. It will go down in history as the first truly water-resistant Razr, and the first one to offer a telephoto camera.

The Razr 50 Ultra is identical to the Motorola raz+ (2024) which is sold in North America. Our review is based on the Razr 50 Ultra but most review findings should be applicable to the raz+ (2024) as well.

Motorola razr+ 2024 • Motorola Razr 50 Ultra

Looks-wise, the new model is not a far departure from last year's Razr 40 Ultra/razr+ (2023) - a compact foldable with an aluminum frame, glass and leather exterior, and a stainless-steel hinge. This year the Ultra is IPX8-rated for proper water resistance.

The external screen has grown - it is now a 4-inch square-ish LTPO OLED with smaller bezels and three punch-holes for the two cameras and the flash. It has 1272 x 1080 px (421ppi) and supports 165Hz refresh rate, 1B colors, HDR10+, and even Dolby Vision.

The foldable 6.9-inch LTPO OLED is of a similar quality - it supports a dynamic 165Hz refresh rate, 1B colors, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The resolution is 2640 x 1080 or 413ppi.

The Razr 50 Ultra/razr+ (2024) is, of course, powered by the latest Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, an update over the 8+ Gen 1, and it features faster UFS 4.0 storage.

The dual camera on the back is here to stay, but it packs completely different imagers. There is a 50MP OIS primary now, accompanied by a 50MP 2x OIS telephoto camera with up to 4x lossless zoom. The 32MP selfie is identical to the one on the Razr 40 Ultra, though.

Finally, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra comes with a 4,000mAh battery that supports 45W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. It boots vanilla Android 14 with a couple of proprietary Moto tricks, including rich utilization of the external screen.

Motorola Razr 50 Ultra specs at a glance:

• Body: 171.4x74.0x7.1mm, 189g; Plastic front, glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus), aluminum frame (6000 series), hinge (stainless steel); IPX8 water resistance.
• Display: 6.9" Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 165Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 1080x2640px resolution, 22:9 aspect ratio, 413ppi; Second external 4.0" LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 165Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 1,080 x 1,272 px, Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8635 Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.0 GHz Cortex-X4 & 4x2.8 GHz Cortex-A720 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A520); Adreno 735.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
• OS/Software: Android 14.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 50 MP, PDAF, 2x optical zoom.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, HDR10+, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps.
• Battery: 4000mAh; 35W wired charging, 15W wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.3, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers.

It seems that Motorola improved the bits we did not like in the Razr 40 Ultra and this is an excellent development! Now we have proper water protection, there is an improved cover screen, better cameras, faster charging. The only downside is that the ultrawide camera had to go and some people are surely going to miss it.

Motorola Razr 50 Ultra unboxing

The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra comes packed in a black paper box full of goodies. Upon opening the box, you will be greeted with a cool scent of wood and other notes. This is Motorola's signature fragrance, and it makes the unboxing experience that much more special.

The box contains a 68W power adapter and a USB-C cable for fast charging. There is also a protective case with a small leather lanyard of matching color. You need to glue the case to the phone with a double-sided tape, which is unfortunate, otherwise it won't stay firmly on your phone.

The case is nice, and so is the lanyard. With these two, you can carry the phone as a crossbody bag.