I replaced my slab phone with Motorola's $1,300 Razr Ultra for a week – and it's very convincing

The Motorola Razr Ultra is officially going on sale today, and it’s one of the most interesting phones I’ve tested this year. No, it’s not because it folds in half and fits comfortably in my jean pocket, or that there’s a Retro Razr mode that transforms the UI into a nostalgia trip back to the Razr’s golden days.

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Instead, it’s the fact that this is arguably the closest thing we’ve gotten to a true flagship flip phone, with no obvious compromises to the performance, display, camera, and durability. At $1,300, you’ll really have to pay to play with the Razr Ultra, and I’m curious to see how customers will react now that they can finally take one home. 

Until then, here’s my verdict after testing the handset over the past week, including where Motorola misses the mark, and where it wins big.

By appearances alone, the Razr Ultra doesn’t look all that different from the Razr Plus model of past years. It’s just as pocketable, flips open and close with a flick of the wrist, and comes in an assortment of Pantone-validated finishes. If none of that “moves you,” that’s because the Razr’s full-display outer screen is arguably the peak of flip phone design. So, most of the changes Motorola implemented are rooted in the internal structure and material choices.

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The most significant yet subtle change is the new titanium-reinforced hinge plate, which Motorola says is four times stronger than surgical-grade stainless steel and can withstand up to 35% more folds than last year’s models. The company isn’t lying here. Having flipped open dozens of foldable phones over the past few years, I can tell you that the Razr Ultra is noticeably sturdier than other models, with a confident thump when you snap it shut.

The big question with any foldable phone is how it holds up over time — I write as my Motorola Razr Plus (2024) produces a gritty, brushing-sandpaper-like sound whenever I open and close it — so I’ll keep my eyes and ears out with the Razr Ultra.

On a brighter note, the Razr’s curved sides continue to be a welcome design choice and make the thumb-tucking unfolding experience much easier than Samsung’s flattened design.

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The crease on the inner display of the Razr Ultra — a constant area of improvement with foldable phones — is also a little less noticeable this time around. Even if the difference isn’t visually distinctive compared to previous Razrs, you can feel the change when gliding your finger across the screen; it’s now a gentle divot that reminds you just how far flip phones have come in the past few years.

I have to tip my hat to Motorola’s continuous efforts in making phones feel less boring. The Pantone-validated finishes on this year’s Razrs (beyond the Ultra) are a breath of fresh air in a market full of black and white rectangles, and they remind me of the old Moto Maker days.

While you can’t necessarily customize the Razr Ultra the same as you would with a Moto X in 2013, you can choose from a variety of colors and material finishes, including Pantone Scarab in Alcantara, Pantone Mountain Trail in FSC-certified wood, Pantone Cabaret, and Pantone Rio Red. 

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Each finish carries a unique aesthetic, but again, I’m a bit concerned about how they’ll fare in the long run — when softer materials like Alcantara face the brunt of dust particles and finger grease. Throughout my week of usage, the Alcantara fabric on my Razr Ultra picked up unknown pieces of dirt and debris without me even trying. Just the motion of going in and out of my pants pocket was enough to fill the textured backing with white speckles.

The takeaway? Opt for one of the harder, more polished finishes for the Razr Ultra, and you won’t regret it.

While companies like Apple have seemingly backpedaled on their AI integrations in smartphones, Motorola is confidently doubling down. With the Razr Ultra, the company has called on several AI partners, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Perplexity, to embed their agents and services into the devices.

If that sounds like the most chaotic buffet of AI helpers a phone user can have, it kind of is. While Motorola’s controlled chaos approach to AI sounds promising in theory, I found each offering, except for Google Gemini, to be too disruptive. 

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For example, Moto AI, a pop-up window prompted by a long press of the dedicated AI key (found on the left side of the phone), gives you several pathways to interact with its large language models, from asking Perplexity to explain something to recording audio for summarization. As a result, I often found myself pausing my train of thought just to decide which AI service to use.

There’s an added layer of complexity here, as tapping shortcuts like “Explain with Perplexity” takes you from the pop-up window to the actual full-screen app. Shouldn’t everything be kept in one floating window as your background task stays put?

I’m more enthusiastic about the Razr Ultra’s Look and Talk feature, which leverages its cameras to detect when you’re staring at it and automatically prompts an AI voice chat. This ambient feature works surprisingly well, whether I set the phone at an angle on my office desk or on the kitchen countertop for quick recipe searches. Its delayed responses can make for an awkward conversation, but the answers are often well-detailed and sourced properly.

The key here is intention, as you really have to face and stare at the phone screen to activate the feature. I find that to be a good thing, as the last thing I want is another voice assistant randomly activating itself in the middle of the night.

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As I mentioned at the beginning, the Razr Ultra is a true flagship flip phone, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of base storage. Those specs, paired with a fairly polished Android skin, make for a snappy and reliable mobile experience. You’ll notice some throttling when playing graphics-intensive games or downloading larger files in the background, but the day-to-day performance has proven to be just as good as $1,000+ slab phones.

The Razr Ultra’s camera system is another high point, with the 50MP main camera having just enough optics to capture subjects in great detail and vivid colors. Even with Motorola opting for a 50MP ultrawide camera instead of last year’s telephoto, I didn’t find myself missing the far-distance shooter all that much. Instead, I was very impressed with the dynamic range, barrel distortion control, and sharpness of the ultrawide sensor.

On the other hand, video recordings on the Razr still appear slightly choppy, with a noticeable jitter that’s produced by the electronic image stabilization. There’s also a noticeable difference in color tones when switching between the main and ultrawide sensors, which can be jarring for some users.

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Motorola somehow fit a 4,700mAh battery capacity into the Razr Ultra, and while that looks great on paper — competing flip phones are closer to 4,000mAh — I’ve found the endurance to be just average. On a regular day, I’m looking at around 15% battery left by the time I’m resting after dinner. Your mileage will vary, but I just wouldn’t set too high an expectation with the Razr Ultra.

Fortunately, the phone does support 65W wired charging and 30W wireless charging, so long as you have the proper chargers. This puts the Motorola phone closer to the likes of OnePlus, which most people consider the fast-charging leader in the US, and further away from the likes of Samsung and Apple. That’s a big win for Motorola.

ZDNET’s buying advice

You have to respect Motorola for taking a big swing with the Razr Ultra. The $1,300 flip phone won’t appeal to the masses per se — it’s hard enough to be a flip phone — but it shows that the company is listening to what its core users want.

Who exactly should buy the Razr Ultra? Technology enthusiasts, fashion-forward consumers (especially if you fancy the Ultra-exclusive Alcantara and Wood finishes), and users who want the best compact phone right now.

That said, the Razr Ultra’s biggest competitor has yet to hit the market, with Samsung expected to launch its latest Z Flip model this summer. Until then, shoppers should mostly consider the less expensive Razr Plus (2025), which has similarly-sized displays, software features, and the same Android update commitment (three years of OS and four years of security patches).