Motorola Razr Fold vs. Galaxy Z Fold 7: The choice is clear to me

While I recently decided to take a break from foldables, I have to admit that the Galaxy Fold remains one of my favorite product lines in the foldable space. Between its high-end specs and polished software, there’s a lot to like if you are a folding phone fan. Still, the space has become a bit more competitive in recent years, with the latest attempt to challenge Samsung’s Fold coming from Motorola.

The Motorola Razr Fold offers a bit of a middle ground between the Fold 7 and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold in terms of hardware capabilities and performance. It’s an interesting approach, and, if I’m being honest, I think it’s even more appealing than what Samsung is offering these days.

I’d pick the Razr Fold over Samsung’s more refined product due to a few stand-out differences that suit my tastes a bit better.

It’s true that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is thinner, lighter, and has a more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor found in the Razr Fold. The 200MP main camera is also a bit more impressive, at least on paper. Likewise, Samsung has significantly more experience with book-style foldables, which means a more polished, refined out-of-the-box software experience than Motorola’s first stab at this larger form factor.

All of these are very real reasons to consider the Fold 7, but the Razr Fold manages to hold its own pretty well when you look a bit closer. In fact, what it adds actually draws me in deeper than anything it’s missing.

You might not get the impressive 200MP shooter, but you do get a solid three-camera configuration that pairs a 50MP Sony LYTIA with a 50MP ultrawide shooter and a 50MP 3x periscope telephoto lens. And where the Razr Fold really shines is in the battery department.

The Razr Fold features silicon-carbon batteries, which are not only more durable and less prone to swelling but also naturally support faster charging speeds and are more energy-dense. The last point means you can fit more battery into a tighter space, which is why the Razr Fold has an impressively large 6,000mAh battery that dramatically outshines the 4,400mAh dual-battery found on the Fold 7.

The Razr Fold doesn’t just have a bigger battery; it also one-ups Samsung when it comes to charging speeds. While the Fold 7 peaks at 25W wired speeds, you’ll get 80W charging out of the Razr. There’s also ultra-fast 50W wireless charging and 5W reverse charging here.

Book-style foldables are meant to be useful for both casual use and productivity, which is why I always thought this was one of the best form factors for a stylus. Samsung disagrees, as it opted to remove S Pen support in order to focus on a thinner, lighter design. Thankfully, Motorola has its own alternative here: the Moto Pen Ultra.

This add-on costs about $100 and works similarly to the S Pen, though it’s more focused on comfortable notetaking than on some of the S Pen’s more advanced features. While some might not love that the stylus is sold separately, it’s worth noting that adding it would still cost roughly the same as buying the Fold 7 alone. The Razr Fold will cost just $1,900 when it arrives on May 21, which is a bit cheaper than the Fold 7’s $2,000 retail price.

Software can make or break any Android experience, but that’s especially true with foldables. A good foldable needs hardware that makes the phone experience feel like any other, while unlocking deeper potential in tablet mode.

It’s true that Samsung has more experience with this and has created plenty of features to make the experience as smooth as possible, including a split-screen mode that lets you open any app in a floating, resizable window, with up to five open at once. Likewise, there are way more power user and productivity-focused features with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Motorola isn’t without its positives, though. For starters, I prefer its cleaner, stock-like Android skin over the more bloated One UI. Motorola is aiming for an experience that feels less like it’s for power users and more like it is for an average user who wants a foldable that just works, with fewer bells and whistles.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have its own refinements and customizations. The advanced cover screen works just as well as any traditional phone UI, and there are several AI-powered extras, special gestures designed to improve the big-screen experience, and even a dedicated taskbar for app switching.

Motorola might not have had as much experience building tablet UI features, but I’m actually pretty confident its tablet UI features will only get better over time. After all, the Motorola Razr flip phones initially lagged behind the Z Flip series, and yet it massively upgraded the cover screen experience over its rival and has caught up in almost every way that matters.

The Razr Fold should provide a solid experience out of the box, even if it lacks in terms of customization and special features. Personally, I’d take this any day, as I prefer better battery life, faster charging, a more stock-like experience, and the option of stylus support.

What makes the Razr Fold an even easier buy than in the past is that Motorola has finally upgraded its software support significantly. Like with most Samsung and Google devices, the Razr Fold will offer seven years of software support. This means that the software experience will only get better with time.

Does all of this make the Razr Fold a perfect foldable? Certainly not. But for what I want and value in a smartphone, it easily beats the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as the foldable I would rather buy.