Motorola Razr Fold review: Motorola finally has the hardware. Now it needs the experience

Samsung has dominated the premium foldable conversation in India for years, not because it always had the biggest battery or the fastest charging, but because it consistently delivered the most polished overall experience. Motorola is taking a very different approach with the Razr Fold. Rather than gradually building towards a flagship foldable over multiple generations, it has entered the category with arguably the strongest hardware package currently available in India.

The Razr Fold comes with a larger battery than the Galaxy Z Fold7, brighter displays, significantly faster charging, a periscope telephoto camera, flagship silicon and a lower starting price. On paper, Motorola has addressed almost every criticism buyers have had with premium foldables over the past few years.

The challenge is that premium foldables have never really been won on specifications alone. They are judged on the experience that unfolds after weeks and months of ownership. Software optimisation, app continuity, multitasking, hinge durability and long-term reliability have traditionally mattered far more than an extra thousand nits of brightness or a few hundred milliamp-hours of battery capacity. That is where Samsung has built its lead over seven generations, and that is the benchmark Motorola now has to match.

Price and availability

Motorola has positioned the Razr Fold very aggressively. The base 12GB + 256GB variant starts at Rs 1,49,999, while the 16GB + 512GB model is priced at Rs 1,59,999. There is also a FIFA World Cup 26 Edition available at Rs 1,69,999.

Design

Motorola has clearly paid attention to the hardware. The Razr Fold unfolds to just 4.7mm, uses a stainless steel teardrop hinge, a titanium inner display plate and is the first smartphone to feature Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 on the cover display. The hinge also supports multiple positions, making tent mode and laptop mode genuinely useful for video calls, media consumption and productivity.

That said, the Galaxy Z Fold7 still feels like the more refined product in hand. Samsung has spent years reducing the size and weight of its foldables, and the difference is noticeable. At 215g, the Fold7 is considerably lighter than the Razr Fold's 243g. On paper the difference doesn't sound dramatic, but over the course of a day, especially during one-handed use, Samsung's slimmer and lighter design remains easier to live with.

The durability story is slightly more nuanced. Motorola's IP49 rating offers improved protection against dust and high-pressure water jets, while Samsung's IP48 certification officially supports water submersion. Depending on how you use your phone, either approach has its advantages, although many buyers may find Samsung's water resistance slightly more reassuring for everyday accidents.

Display

The displays are arguably the Razr Fold's biggest strength.

The inner display measures 8.1 inches and uses an LTPO pOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and a claimed peak brightness of 6,200 nits. The cover display is equally impressive, offering a 6.6-inch LTPO panel with a 165Hz refresh rate and up to 6,000 nits of brightness.

Those numbers are not just marketing material. In India, where the outer display is often used under harsh sunlight, the additional brightness makes a meaningful difference to visibility. The higher refresh rate on the cover screen also helps make everyday interactions feel smoother.

Both displays support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, Pantone colour validation and full DCI-P3 colour coverage. Samsung continues to offer excellent displays, but this is one area where Motorola has a clear hardware advantage.

Software

If there is one section that will ultimately define the Razr Fold, it is software.

The phone ships with Android 16 running Motorola's Hello UI and includes desktop mode, three-app multitasking, large-screen optimisations and a seven-year commitment for Android and security updates. On paper, Motorola has done almost everything buyers would expect from a premium foldable.

The bigger question is consistency. Samsung has spent years refining how Android behaves on a folding display. From app continuity to multitasking and window management, countless small improvements have accumulated over multiple generations. These are the kinds of refinements that rarely appear on a specification sheet but become obvious after months of daily use.

During our initial testing, Hello UI feels clean, responsive and feature-rich. However, software maturity is something that only long-term use can properly evaluate. First-generation products often impress during the first week before their limitations become more apparent over time. That remains the biggest question mark surrounding the Razr Fold.

Performance and battery

The Razr Fold is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor paired with LPDDR5X RAM, delivering flagship-level performance across gaming, multitasking and productivity. There is very little to criticise here, and the phone performs exactly as expected from a device in this price segment.

Battery life is where Motorola separates itself from the competition. The 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery is comfortably the largest available on any premium foldable currently sold in India, addressing one of the biggest compromises associated with this category. It is complemented by 80W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, putting it well ahead of Samsung's charging speeds.

For users who regularly spend long days away from a charger, this is likely to be one of the Razr Fold's biggest practical advantages. Foldables have traditionally required battery compromises, and Motorola deserves credit for challenging that assumption.

Camera

Motorola has also taken a different approach with its cameras. Instead of relying on a single high-resolution primary sensor, the company has focused on building a balanced system. The Razr Fold features a 50MP Sony LYTIA 828 main camera, a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and a 50MP ultrawide camera, alongside 32MP selfie cameras.

The inclusion of a proper periscope telephoto lens is particularly noteworthy, as this is an area where Samsung has generally remained conservative with its foldables. Motorola is also highlighting its DxOMark score, although benchmark scores alone rarely tell the complete story.

Samsung's 200MP primary camera will still offer advantages in situations where maximum detail or aggressive cropping is required. Motorola, however, delivers a more versatile camera setup overall, particularly for users who regularly switch between ultrawide, telephoto and standard focal lengths. Real-world image processing and consistency across different lighting conditions will ultimately determine which approach works better, but the hardware itself is among the strongest available on a foldable today.

Verdict

The Razr Fold is Motorola's strongest smartphone yet and easily one of the most compelling premium foldables available in India today. It fixes many of the compromises that have defined this category for years, offering excellent battery life, faster charging, brighter displays and a versatile camera system, all while undercutting the Galaxy Z Fold7 on price.

That said, foldables have never been judged on hardware alone. Samsung's biggest advantage continues to be the years it has spent refining the software experience and building confidence in the category. Motorola has matched, and in some areas surpassed, Samsung on specifications. The real question is whether that translates into the same level of long-term reliability and polish.