Motorola Razr 60 Ultra review

Competition

The Razr Ultra has gotten even more Ultra this year, with camera upgrades, a proper flagship chipset, and a bigger battery. A proper global model too, the Razr 60 Ultra will take on the Galaxy Z Flip the world over, though the Z Flip will have the price on its side, at least in the beginning.

Speaking of Galaxy Z Flips, the currently available Z Flip6 is a generation behind in terms of chipset, but then the Razr's performance isn't really stellar so that's less of a differentiator than it looks on the face of it. The Moto is the better cameraphone, it has nicer displays, much longer battery life and way faster charging... There's not a lot going for the Galaxy, really.

Well, other than price, that is - at some 30% less, it's not a small argument in its favor. Still, the Moto just might be worth the premium. Perhaps the Z Flip7 could change this balance, but its release isn't all that soon.

The Razr 50 Ultra is priced in the Z Flip6's ballpark, so it too is a viable money-saving alternative to its own successor. The new model's much-improved endurance and the inclusion of an ultrawide camera could still justify spending the extra money, but if those two aspects aren't as important to you, the older Ultra isn't a bad option.

That just about exhausts the list of obvious contenders - there just aren't all that many high-end clamshells with an international status.

The regular Razr 60 is more of a midranger at heart, the Xiaomi Mix Flip is China-only, Oppo pulled out of the small foldables space (the N3 Flip is 18 months old) - the Razr 60 Ultra doesn't really have much of a competition, it turns out.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 • Motorola Razr 50 Ultra

Verdict

The Motorola Razr 60 Ultra (or Razr Ultra in North America) is a thoroughly excellent small foldable that could very well be the best-performing specimen of its kind that we've seen to date. Its flaws are few, the most important being the aggressive CPU throttling. It robs the phone of some of the positives of having the best Android chipset currently available, and it's seemingly an inherent limitation of the model's thermal design. Maybe the relatively low maximum brightness of the display in manual operation also stems from thermal considerations as well.

Other than that, the Razr's showing is class-leading in most respects. Battery life is excellent across the board, and charging remains best-in-class, as last year. The displays can, actually, put out plenty of nits when the ambient light calls for it - also scoring higher than the rest in that test. The camera setup doesn't suffer too much from not having a telephoto, and its replacement with an ultrawide is actually beneficial in several ways. The Razr also remains the most functional small foldable if you'd prefer to keep it closed, thanks to a larger-than-most display and the software package to make use of it.

What could be a setback for the Razr 60 Ultra is its price tag at launch. At about 50% more than the current pricing of its predecessor and the still current Galaxy counterpart, the new flagship Razr is a bit of a tough sell. But with the right freebies, a carrier subsidy, or a discount sometime down the line, it could be the clamshell to get in 2025.

Pros

• IP48 rating for survival in case of water submersion; standout color/material options.
• Large, bright, high-RR cover display.
• Nearly creaseless internal display, great in most metrics too.
• Class-leading battery life; fastest-charging clamshell.
• Hello UI is both clean and full-featured, the cover screen functionality is wide-ranging.
• Overall great camera system.

Cons

• Heavy CPU throttling.
• Manual maximum brightness could use an increase.
• Using the cover screen as a viewfinder for your subjects could be buggy.
• Speakers are a bit of a downgrade.