Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) Review: The Fastest Flip Phone Ever Made

Flip phones have historically made a quiet trade: fold-in-half convenience in exchange for last-generation performance. Motorola's Razr Ultra (2025) was the phone that first ended that compromise — the first clamshell foldable built around Qualcomm's genuine flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, rather than a cut-down mid-tier part. Samsung's newer Z Flip 7 has since caught up on some fronts, though its UK/global chip is actually a Samsung Exynos 2500 rather than Qualcomm silicon (some other regions get Snapdragon instead) — the Razr Ultra remains the more distinctive flip phone on the things that don't vary by market: a larger, faster inner display and a cover screen that runs real apps rather than curated widgets.

Design and Build

Motorola leans into fashion-forward materials here in a way Samsung generally doesn't — an aluminium frame with a stainless steel hinge, a silicone-polymer eco-leather back, and optional wood or Alcantara finishes on top of standard Pantone Validated colourways (Midnight Blue, Hot Pink, Scarab), for a genuinely distinctive in-hand feel most rival flip phones don't attempt. At 171.5 x 74.0 x 7.2mm unfolded and 199g, it's a substantial but well-balanced phone; folded, it drops to a pocketable 88.1 x 74.0 x 15.7mm. The honest caveat worth correcting directly: this is rated IP48, not full IP68 — dust particles under 1mm aren't fully sealed out, though it is water-resistant to 1.5m for 30 minutes. That's a real, disclosed step up from earlier Razr generations, but it falls short of full dust-and-water sealing some rivals offer, and even within Motorola's own newer lineup the Razr Fold edges it out on ingress protection. The hinge itself feels tight and reassuring through repeated folds regardless. The three launch colourways — Midnight Blue, Hot Pink, and Scarab — lean further into fashion-forward territory than most rival flip phones attempt, and the combination of premium materials with genuine third-party durability certification is a deliberate positioning choice rather than an accident — Motorola is explicitly competing on craftsmanship and feel, not just spec-sheet numbers, in a segment where Samsung has traditionally set the pace on polish.

Display

The 7.0-inch inner LTPO AMOLED panel (1224 x 2912) is both larger and faster than most rivals' — 165Hz adaptive refresh with Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support, peaking at 4,500 nits, genuinely putting it ahead of Samsung's Z Flip 7 on paper. The 4.0-inch pOLED cover display (1080 x 1272, also 165Hz with Dolby Vision, peaking at 3,000 nits under Gorilla Glass Ceramic) is the more interesting story, though: unlike Samsung's curated widget-only approach, Motorola lets you run full third-party apps on it without unfolding the phone at all.

Camera

Dual 50MP sensors handle photo duties — a main camera at f/1.8 with a 24mm focal length, 1/1.56" sensor size, and OIS, plus a 50MP ultrawide at f/2.0, 12mm, with a genuinely wide 122° field of view. Video tops out at a proper 8K@30fps, with 4K@60fps and 1080p@60fps also available. The honest correction worth making directly: there is no separate front-facing selfie camera at all — photos and video with the phone closed rely entirely on the rear cameras and cover display as a viewfinder, a real design trade-off rather than a limitation unique to this model, and one PhoneArena's own review is candid the camera experience overall "isn't phenomenal, just better than before." It's a solid, honestly-limited camera system rather than a class leader; Motorola's engineering effort here has clearly gone into performance and the cover-screen experience rather than chasing periscope-telephoto specs or a dedicated selfie sensor. The upside of the closed-screen-viewfinder approach is real, not just a workaround: selfies and vlogging footage shot this way use the same 50MP main sensor as regular photos, meaning genuinely better image quality than a typical dedicated front camera on a rival phone, at the cost of the extra step of composing the shot on the cover display rather than glancing at a dedicated front lens.

Performance

This was the headline at launch, and it still holds up well. Snapdragon 8 Elite paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM makes the Razr Ultra genuinely fast in a way flip phones simply hadn't been before it arrived — sustained gaming performance, heavy multitasking, and everyday responsiveness all feel like a proper flagship slab phone rather than a compromised foldable, backed by 512GB or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. Samsung's more recent Z Flip 7 has moved to its own newer silicon, but that phone's UK/global chip is a Samsung Exynos 2500, not the "Snapdragon 8 Elite 2" sometimes claimed elsewhere — other regions get Snapdragon silicon instead, a genuine regional split worth knowing before assuming uniform performance. Either way, the Razr Ultra's Snapdragon 8 Elite is still comfortably flagship-tier over a year on, and the gap to Samsung's Exynos-equipped units specifically remains wide in most independent benchmark comparisons, even though Samsung's own Snapdragon-equipped regional variant closes that gap considerably. Android 15 runs cleanly on top, with Motorola's software additions staying relatively light-touch compared to some rivals' more heavily skinned interfaces. Multitasking in particular benefits from the sheer amount of RAM on offer — 16GB is genuinely more than most rival flip phones ship with, giving real headroom for keeping several demanding apps resident in memory simultaneously rather than needing to reload them after switching away, a genuine quality-of-life benefit for anyone who treats the phone as a proper productivity device rather than just a compact camera-and-messaging tool.

Battery and Charging

The 4,700mAh cell is solid rather than class-leading — flip phones generally trail slab flagships on stamina given how much space the hinge and dual displays take up, and this is no exception; the 78 battery subScore reflects that honestly. 68W TurboPower charging is genuinely fast though, getting a full charge in around 40 minutes when you do need a top-up, and 30W wireless charging is a genuine bonus most rival flip phones in this segment don't offer at all.

How It Compares to the Razr+

Motorola's own Razr+ (2025) sits directly below the Ultra in the same generation's lineup, and the trade-offs are specific and real. The Razr+ swaps the Ultra's ultrawide for a 50MP, 2x-optical telephoto instead — genuinely different camera priorities rather than a strict downgrade — but drops to a deliberately scaled-back Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip rather than the Ultra's flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite, and to a smaller 4,000mAh battery against the Ultra's 4,700mAh. The Razr+ does claw back an advantage on charging speed, at a faster 45W against the Ultra's 68W actually being slower in practice per Android Central's own testing — though 68W still delivers a full charge in under 40 minutes regardless. Both share the same IP48 rating and stainless steel hinge. At £899 against the Ultra's £1,199, the Razr+ is the pick for anyone who wants the Razr design language and cover-screen experience without paying for flagship-tier silicon they may not fully use.

Who It's For

The Razr Ultra is for a buyer who wants the fastest flip phone on the market and a cover-screen experience that beats Samsung's, and doesn't mind paying a genuine flagship price for a clamshell. PhoneArena's review is direct that it makes some meaningful upgrades in all the right places, and while it lacks some of Samsung's AI polish, it isn't too far behind. It's a strong fit for anyone who specifically vlogs or shoots video with the phone closed, since PhoneArena found the Razr Ultra can record at up to 4K60 using the cover screen as a viewfinder, a real advantage over the Galaxy Z Flip6's 1080p-only closed-screen recording limit. It's a weaker fit for anyone chasing the deepest ingress protection in the segment, since HotHardware's own comparison notes the newer Razr Fold actually edges it out on IP rating, or for anyone who specifically wants a dedicated front-facing selfie camera rather than relying on the rear cameras and cover display.

Price and Availability

One genuine advantage the Razr Ultra has over several phones covered on this site: it's straightforwardly available rather than requiring an import. In the US, it's sold officially through AT&T, T-Mobile, Best Buy, Amazon, and motorola.com directly; in the UK and across Europe, it goes through Motorola's usual retail channels; and in Canada, major carriers including Rogers carry it too. In some markets it's sold under the name "Razr 60 Ultra" instead of "Razr Ultra," but it's the identical phone underneath the regional branding — worth knowing if you're comparing listings across different countries and the names don't immediately match up. At £1,199/$1,299/€1,349, it sits at genuine flagship pricing for the segment, a real premium over the Razr+'s £899 covered above, but one that buys flagship-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon the Razr+ deliberately doesn't offer. That straightforward availability is genuinely uncommon among the flip-phone segment specifically — several rival clamshell foldables from Chinese brands remain China-only or import-only in Western markets, making the Razr Ultra one of relatively few genuine flagship-tier flip phones a UK, US, or Canadian buyer can walk into a carrier store and purchase with full local warranty support, rather than relying on grey-market import channels. That combination of genuine availability and flagship-tier hardware is what makes the Razr Ultra a realistic recommendation rather than a niche curiosity for buyers outside Motorola's home market.

Verdict

Frequently Asked Questions

How it compares: Motorola Razr Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Motorola

Motorola Razr Ultra (2025)

From $1,299

85

Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

From £999

83

vs

7.0" LTPO AMOLED 165Hz

Display

6.9" Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz

50MP + 50MP ultrawide

Main cam

50MP + 12MP ultrawide

Snapdragon 8 Elite

Chip

Exynos 2500 (UK/global)

4,700mAh · 68W

Battery

4,300mAh · 25W

From $1,299

Price

From £999

Full Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) review

Full Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 review