Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
By: GSMArena Posted On: June 01, 2023 View: 61

Unboxing and specs

Motorola is having another shot at foldables, and at first glance, it looks as if the company is on the right path. Motorola is launching two clamshell foldable Razr phones this year - the Razr 40 and 40 Ultra (also known as Razr+ in North America). The subject of this review is the more expensive Ultra, which introduces a few notable changes compared to the 2022 Razr.

It's the design that has been mostly changed, and that's an important aspect as today's foldables are meant to appeal mostly to the design-conscious audience. And before the geek inside you scoffs at that, the hardware changes deserve attention. Motorola has updated the hinge, narrowing the gap between the two parts of the chassis when closed; they've also trimmed the main display's bezels and made the crease somewhat less visible; finally, they've added a truly usable outer display.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The 3.6-inch outer screen is not just for glancing at notifications or other contextual info, no. Motorola has worked closely with app developers, so a handful of apps are optimized to run on the cover display, including Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify. It also works as an excellent viewfinder for the main camera. Although, you will find a selfie cam on the inside as well.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra specs at a glance:

  • Body: 170.83x73.95x6.99mm, 188.6g; Plastic front (opened), 88.42x73.95x15.1mm glass front (closed, Gorilla Glass Victus), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus) or vegan leather, aluminum frame (7000 series), hinge (stainless steel); Water-repellent coating.
  • Display: 6.90" Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 165Hz, HDR10+, 1400 nits (peak), 1080x2640px resolution, 22:9 aspect ratio, 413ppi; Second external pOLED, 1B colors, 144Hz, 1100 nits (peak), 3.6", 1056 x 1066 pixels, 413 ppi, Gorilla Glass Victus.
  • Chipset: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
  • Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
  • OS/Software: Android 13.
  • Rear camera: Wide (main): 12 MP, f/1.5, 1/2.55", 1.4µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 108˚, 1/3", 1.12µm, AF.
  • Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 0.7µm.
  • Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, HDR10+, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps.
  • Battery: 3800mAh; 30W wired, 5W wireless.
  • Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6e; BT 5.3, EDR; NFC.
  • Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); stereo speakers.

On the inside, the Razr 40 Ultra is a mix of some old and new hardware. While it's still rocking the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, the device swaps out its old display for a faster and bigger one. The 6.9-inch main display can now run at 165Hz, while the secondary one is clocked at 144Hz. Battery capacity has increased as well, now 3,800 mAh, but there is no upgrade in the charging speed. The 40 Ultra does get wireless charging this year, though, which is a must-have feature in the premium segment.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The camera department sees a small upgrade as well, particularly the main camera. It's no Quad-Bayer anymore, and it uses a standard 12MP sensor with big pixels and is paired with a wide f/1.5 aperture lens.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The updated specs sheet seems promising enough, but is it enough to tackle the heavy hitters - Samsung and Huawei? After all, Samsung's Galaxy Flip series has been the default option for people looking for a clamshell foldable for some time now, so we will be glad to see a worthy competitor to Samsung's hegemony this year.

Unboxing the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

The handset ships unfolded in a standard box containing the usual user manuals and the appropriate 30W TurboPower wall charger with USB-A along with a USB-C to USB-A cable for charging and data transfer. The charger isn't included in the box for North American buyers, though.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

There's also a two-piece protective case with a hard and transparent shell.

Design and ergonomics

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra features a familiar but largely revamped design compared to its Razr 2022 predecessor. And depending on the color version you choose, you get different materials. The Infinite Black and Glacier Blue colorways use a Gorilla Glass Victus sheet for the bottom half of the phone, while the Viva Magenta color, which is in our hands, has vegan leather. All versions use 7000 series aluminum frame, though.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The vegan leather on the Viva Magenta feels really nice to the touch and it's super smooth. It does help with the grip too. A gorilla Glass Victus sheet protects the external display.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

Thanks to the new teardrop hinge design, the two halves are brought closer when the device is folded and there's virtually no gap between them. For reference, last year's Razr 2022 measures 17mm in thickness, while the Razr 40 Ultra is 15.1mm. To be fair, the new Razr is thinner when unfolded too - just 6.99mm as opposed to 7.6mm on the Razr 2022. Moreover, the new Razr is substantially lighter, tipping the scale at 184.5 grams for the Viva Magenta color, while the glass options are slightly heftier at 188.5g.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

Despite the hinge, the Razr 40 Ultra offers IP52 certification against water and dust. Notably, this isn't full-on water-proofing but it can withstand splashes, spills, sweat or light rain, which should be more than enough in most accidental situations.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Motorola Razr 40 Ultra - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

Speaking of the hinge, it feels sturdy and solid, sometimes even too much. Opening up the phone with one hand is a hassle, nearly impossible even. But you can still close it with one hand and it supports a wide range of positions, capping at around a 120-degree angle. After that point, it opens up completely. We noticed the phone doesn't open completely and remains slightly bent.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The display is now bigger, measuring 6.9" in diagonal and features razor-thin bezels. The crease is a bit less obtrusive than last year's, so bonus points for that. It doesn't get any better than this, given the available flexible OLED technology.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

We like that the handset is narrower than before and sits comfortably in hand. It sure is a tall device, though, so it will still be a challenge to operate with one hand. This means reaching the buttons on the top half is an issue too. It would have been better for the power button (which doubles as a fingerprint too) to be placed on the bottom part, while the volume buttons moved closer to the hinge.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The rest of the side frame is business as usual. The bottom half accommodates the loudspeaker grille and the USB-C connector, while the top houses the earpiece that doubles as a second loudspeaker. Motorola moved it to the top so you can take calls with the handset folded.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The external display is now 3.2" and it's a nice touch. It almost fills the entirety of the top half of the Razr 40 Ultra, while the two camera sensors, along with the LED flash, look as if they are floating on top of the display. The two camera sensors lie almost completely flush, so they don't obstruct the screen all that much.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra's external display - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Motorola Razr 40 Ultra's external display - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra's external display

The "wow" effect of foldable smartphones is long gone, which is understandable, but the Razr 40 Ultra has a nice, functional and sturdy build. The color options are cool, especially the Viva Magenta one we have with vegan leather. There's nothing to complain about and we can't find any deal-breaking issues. We just wished for better button placement as it's hard to reach them when the device is unfolded.

6.9-inch flexible OLED and 3.2-inch external display

The Razr 40 Ultra now features a bigger 6.9-inch foldable OLED panel of the LTPO kind. It has an unorthodox 1080 x 2640px resolution, which equals a tall 22:9 aspect ratio. The panel supports HDR10+, 10-bit color depth and up to 165Hz refresh rate making it one of the fastest displays on the market. During gaming, the screen supports up to 360Hz touch response rate for a more responsive gaming experience.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

It has a pre-applied film screen protector for extra protection and it may also be essential for the display's functionality. The crease in the middle is somewhat subtle at first glance, but you can definitely feel it when you glide your finger across the screen.

Motorola didn't cut any corners with the external display either. The 3.2-inch OLED panel has a 1066 x 1056px resolution and supports basically te same set of features - HDR10+, 10-bit color depth and touch response rate of 360Hz. However, it runs at 144Hz instead of 165Hz, which is more than enough for a smooth viewing experience anyway.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

We weren't able to confirm this for sure, but we suspect that Motorola uses one of the camera sensors to detect the ambient light and adjust the brightness of the external screen. The main display, on the other hand, has a full-fledged ambient light sensor.

Both displays show excellent performance in our tests. The foldable screen peaked at 1,050 nits in auto mode, while in manual, it got up to 506 nits. Despite the protective film on top of it, we found the peak brightness to be good enough for comfortable outdoor use. The external display has similar readings - 505 nits in manual and 932 nits in auto mode.

Max display brightness test

White test pattern, 75% fill (nits)

Sort by

Manual mode

Auto mode

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

1050

506

Oppo Find N2 Flip

1039

547

Motorola Razr 2022

1033

496

vivo X Flip

1027

606

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra (ext. display)

932

505

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4

919

505

Huawei P50 Pocket

803

521

Motorola Razr 2022 (Cover display)

N/A

369

Color accuracy on the external screen isn't great and it tends to display blue-ish whites and grays. The same goes for the main screen in the default Saturated color mode. Switching to the Natural color preset brings the average dE2000 down to just 2.2. Solid result.

HRR control

Since the handset uses an LTPO OLED panel, it's capable of granular refresh rate adjustments. When the screen is idle, the refresh rate dials down to 1Hz, no matter the brightness level. It can also accommodate all video types, including 24fps ones. And while we like these implementations, there's more we don't like. For instance, we couldn't get the display to ramp up to 165Hz. It was always stuck at 120Hz and Chrome was even switching between 120 and 90Hz without any obvious logic.

The only time the display saturated the full 165Hz was in certain benchmarks or when we enabled the Extreme refresh rate mode via the gaming sidebar. However, we are unable to confirm whether the games can actually run at 165fps since the refresh rate doesn't always match the frame rate. We tried some titles that are known to be limited to 60Hz and the refresh rate counter displayed 165Hz and that's why we have our doubts.

Either way, the refresh rate is kind of sketchy and you won't be using the full potential of the 165Hz most of the time.

The external display follows a similar pattern and only goes up to 120Hz instead of 144Hz when actually needed. And since it's not LTPO, it defaults back to 60Hz instead of 1Hz.

Battery life

The Razr 40 Ultra features a bigger 3,800 mAh battery along with a more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. And the results from our tests show a significant improvement over the Motorola Razr 2022 in all scenarios. The screen-off and screen-on tests all show measurable improvements and the overall score shoots up to 83 hours. We are particularly happy to see the web browsing and video playback runtimes increase, as they were abysmal in the last generation.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.

Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.

On one hand, putting the Razr 40 Ultra into context reveals that battery life overall isn't very impressive. Many of the standard form factor flagship phones offer longer battery life. On the other, the Razr 40 Ultra's battery life is comparable to other vertically-foldable smartphones like the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and the Oppo Find N2 Flip, albeit still lower.

Charging speed

The new Razr 40 Ultra seems to be borrowing the 30W TurboPower charger from its predecessor but to our utmost surprise, the handset shipped with a USB-A to USB-C cable instead of USB-C to USB-C. The appropriate USB-A charger was in the box as well. In any case, the Razr 40 Ultra, despite having a bigger battery, has relatively faster charging than the Razr 2022.

However, the device isn't very impressive when put into context. The somewhat small 3,800 mAh battery fully charges within 1 hour and 27 minutes while a 30-minute charging cycle replenishes 45% of the battery. Not nearly enough to be deemed competitive.

30min charging test (from 0%)

Higher is better

Huawei P50 Pocket

70%

Oppo Find N2 Flip

62%

Galaxy Z Flip4

55%

vivo X Flip

53%

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

45%

Motorola Razr 2022

37%

* Tap/hover over the device names for more info

Time to full charge (from 0%)

Lower is better

Huawei P50 Pocket

0:54h

Oppo Find N2 Flip

0:58h

Galaxy Z Flip4

1:15h

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

1:27h

vivo X Flip

1:27h

Motorola Razr 2022

1:34h

* Tap/hover over the device names for more info

Speakers

Although the Razr 40 Ultra uses a hybrid stereo setup, with the left channel acting as an earpiece, the sound is pretty balanced. Loudness-wise, the speakers got "Very Good" score of -25.4 LUFS, matching the Razr 2022's speakers from last year.

After a subjective assessment, the device Razr 40 Ultra seems to borrow the speakers from its predecessor, which is mostly a good thing. We like how clean the sound is, with well-pronounced mids, clear highs and vocals and a sufficient amount of bass.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Vanilla Android 13 garnished with Moto features

Motorola has always been keen on the vanilla Android experience and this has been one of Motorola's main appeals. However, in the context of a foldable smartphone, some may think it's more of a drawback. After all, foldable smartphones require a bit of extra touch so that all apps work properly on the fairly new form factor. The good news is that Android isn't stale and has matured enough to accommodate the new foldable form factor and Motorola has worked closely with developers to polish the user experience. Moreover, the OEM promises three major OS updates for the Razr 40 Ultra.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

If you've ever used a Motorola smartphone or any other handset running a clean Android, you'd feel right at home. There's nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to aesthetics, navigation and Android-intrinsic features.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

In a typical Motorola fashion, there are a handful of additional features that come with almost every Motorola smartphone along with some exclusive ones thanks to the new external 3.2-inch display. Pretty much all of the additional features can be found in the system Moto app, along with some useful tips on how to make the most out of the Razr 40 Ultra.

Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Home screen, recent apps, notification shade, settings menu

Let's start with personalization. Motorola provides a ton of dynamic wallpapers that can be applied on the main and external screen. There's no Always-on display, though, not in the general sense, at least. You can't set the external display to be always on, but Motorola offers the so-called Peek Display, which is the second-best thing. You can wake up the external screen by tapping on it or just bumping the phone. The software tacks for changes in the accelerometer and wakes up the screen. It shows notifications and a customizable clockface.

Moto features and personalization - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Moto features and personalization - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Moto features and personalization - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Moto features and personalization - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Moto features and personalization

There are a couple of other Moto gestures, like launching the flashlight with two hand-chopping motions or twisting the phone to launch the camera.

Moto gestures - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Moto gestures - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Moto gestures - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Moto gestures - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Moto gestures

The sidebar is a fairly new addition to the Moto features. You can access your favorite apps via the Sidebar and launch them in small windows. Sadly, you can run only one app in the background and one in a small window, so the multitasking capabilities are somewhat limited.

Sidebar and multi-tasking - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Sidebar and multi-tasking - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Sidebar and multi-tasking

Motorola also added a double-tap gesture оn the back so you can launch an app or execute an action on the fly. This isn't the first time we see this gesture implemented, but this is definitely the first time we see it working properly without delay or misfires. Maybe because your finger naturally rests on the secondary display, which in turn is more capable of registering touches than your regular metal/leather/glass/plastic back.

Quick launch with double tap on the back - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Quick launch with double tap on the back - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Quick launch with double tap on the back

Now off to the external display. Motorola makes a big deal out of it and we can see why. The secondary screen may not be big, but it's more functional than ever. You can run standalone apps on it, reply to messages, use it as a viewfinder, attend or dismiss notifications and even watch Netflix videos. Motorola has worked closely with developers to optimize some of the most commonly used apps so they can work properly on the 3.2-inch screen. However, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. The Google Maps experience, for example, wasn't stellar and some buttons and UI elements were often blocked by the camera sensors. It's important to note that we had an engineering sample to work with, so Motorola may fix them at launch or shortly after.

External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
External display customizations

As we already mentioned, you can set a clock style of your choice, arrange apps on the home screen, rearrange the panels on the home screen and adjust the font and size. The system allows you to switch between the main and the external screen on the fly by either tapping on a button when you close the phone or by transferring the said app automatically as soon as you close the flip. Keep in mind that some apps are not allowed on the external panel, but the vast majority of apps we tried worked properly.

External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display customizations - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
External display customizations

The external display also has its own recent apps menu and you can access the quick toggles and notification shade too. In short, it allows you to do almost everything without having to open the device at all.

External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
External display home screen, recent apps, notification shade

Introduced in 2021, Motorola's 'ready for' platform enables a multitude of use cases that put the phone in the center of a big-screen experience. Connecting a TV or a monitor allows you to get a Windows-desktop-like environment, play a game on your phone, display it on the external screen, or even have a video chat on a larger display.

Gestures in Ready For mode - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Gestures in Ready For mode - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Gestures in Ready For mode - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Gestures in Ready For mode

And while this feature only worked with an appropriate USB-C to USB-C cable in the past, you can now make the connection using Miracast, which most modern TVs, monitors and PCs support nowadays. If you don't have a mouse and/or keyboard handy, the phone's screen can be used as a trackpad and/or keyboard.

You can also use 'ready for' on a Windows-based PC - it runs within a window on your desktop. This is helpful when you want to run an Android app from your computer or multi-task between devices on just one screen.

Ready For desktop-like experience - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ready For desktop-like experience - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ready For desktop-like experience - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Ready For desktop-like experience

Another use case of 'ready for' on a Windows PC is for video calls, where you can use the phone's camera to capture yourself and an external display to see the other participants.

The final Ready For use case is for gaming on a bigger screen - be it TV or laptop/monitor. You connect an external controller and run the game on the phone, with the obvious benefit being the larger display for gameplay.

It works exactly like Samsung's DeX, bringing a desktop environment-friendly experience to Android and its apps.

Ready For desktop-like experience - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ready For desktop-like experience - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ready For desktop-like experience - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Ready For desktop-like experience

All in all, Motorola's vision for a clean Android is somewhat different than Google's as it provides a couple of unique features and was able to polish the foldable experience beyond the scope of vanilla Android. The best part is that the software didn't feel unfinished in any way, quite the opposite actually. Our experience was bug-free (except for the extremely rare UI issues with the external display in some apps) and the system ran smoothly without any slow-downs or hiccups.

Benchmark performance

The Razr 40 Ultra gets a last-year chipset, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4nm), which is a capable, modern, flagship SoC but it's not the most recent one. Still, it's powerful enough to handle everything you throw at it and it's the full-fledged version of the silicon and not the underclocked variant that some other phones are using. This means that the octa-core CPU has the usual 1+3+4 clusters with the following clock speeds: 1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510. The Adreno 730 GPU takes care of the graphically-intensive tasks.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The standard memory configuration is 8GB/256GB while the 12GB/512GB variant can be found exclusively in select markets.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    1537
  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    1482
  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    1477
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    1324
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    1277
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    1270
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    1241
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    1180
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    1092
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    936

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    5049
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    4927
  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    4896
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    3944
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    3937
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    3913
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    3657
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    3645
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    3265
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    3077

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    1273764
  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    1268538
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    1241531
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    975461
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    968359
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    965260
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    937839
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    800001
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    773574
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    768513

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    86
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    60
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    58
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    56
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    54
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    54
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    54
  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    51
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    30
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    29

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    62
  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    60
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    59
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    46
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    44
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    44
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    35
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    33
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    31
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    23

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    69
  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    69
  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    68
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    47
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    45
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    37
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    36
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    35
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    27
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    98
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    62
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    60
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    56
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    55
  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    55
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    54
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    43
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    29
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    29

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    112
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    76
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    74
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    67
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    67
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    65
  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    63
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    59
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    40
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    37

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    129
  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    127
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    126
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    97
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    83
  • Motorola Razr 2022
    76
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    76
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    75
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    58
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    58

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

  • Xiaomi 13 Ultra
    13106
  • Galaxy S23 Ultra
    12241
  • Motorola Edge 40 Pro
    12230
  • Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
    8787
  • Galaxy Z Flip4
    8460
  • Oppo Find N2 Flip
    8144
  • Galaxy S22 Ultra
    7437
  • Huawei P50 Pocket
    5656
  • Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 average
    4997

As you can see, the Razr 40 Ultra performs as expected most of the time and offers good utilization of the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. There are a couple of GPU-intensive scenarios in which the device falls behind your average SD8+ Gen 1 smartphone. However, it's hard to look over the fact that the Razr 40 Ultra costs as much as other 2023 flagship devices while delivering inferior performance. All true flagships from this year are rocking the much-improved Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Sustained performance

The Razr 40 Ultra doesn't surprise with good sustained performance and that's partly due to the form factor. The separation of the chassis into two parts results in diminished heat dissipation and it becomes increasingly harder for the cooling design to keep up with the SoC's demand. That's why the Razr 40 Ultra started throttling in the first 5 minutes of the CPU stress test.

CPU stress test: 30 min - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review CPU stress test: 60 min - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
CPU stress test: 30 min • 60 min

There were no signs of improvement throughout the whole test and the SoC maintained about 50% of its theoretical performance during the 1-hour long stress scenario.

Old-fashioned dual-camera setup

To our surprise, Motorola went for a non-Quad-Bayer sensor for its main camera - 12MP with big 1.4µm pixels. The sensor is paired with an optically-stabilized lens with a huge f/1.5 aperture. This is a tad bigger than what we are used to seeing at around f/1.7-1.9. In any case, the aperture will give the sensor some advantage at night by capturing more light, but close-up shots will have very limited focus distance.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The ultrawide camera, on the other hand, is pretty standard and it's essentially the same one as on last year's Razr - 13MP f/2.2, 1.12μm with 108° FoV. And it supports autofocus, enabling macro-level shots.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The selfie also carries over from last year with a 32MP 0.7µm sensor, paired with f/2.4 aperture. And since it's a Quad-Bayer sensor, the camera outputs 8MP images.

Camera menus

The camera app on the Razr 2022 Ultra is custom despite the relatively stock-looking software package. When it comes to its implementation on the unfolded phone, it's essentially identical to what you get on regular, bar-style Motos.

The basics are as usual - the camera modes are arranged in a customizable carousel formation, with the 'More' tab at the rightmost end of the carousel holding the more seldom-used shooting modes.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

Pro mode gives you full control over the camera's settings like white balance, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and exposure compensation, and it works on both rear cameras but not the front-facing one. A tiny live histogram is provided, but there's no focus peaking or zebras.

Camera modes and settings - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Camera modes and settings - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Camera modes and settings - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Camera modes and settings - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Camera modes and settings - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Camera modes and settings

Additional settings for each camera mode can be found by swiping down in the viewfinder. There's a tiny bar at the far end to indicate that, but if you miss it, you may be left wondering where some controls are, like the flash and self-timer settings in Photo mode and frame rate in Video mode.

The gear icon for the general settings menu houses even more settings.

The one thing that sets the Razr's viewfinder apart from your regular Motos is the tiny icon in the top left corner that enables the outer display's live view when the phone is unfolded. That button cycles between three modes - outer screen off, outer screen on with live view, and outer screen on with a colorful animation meant to replace the 'say cheese' prompt.

With the outer screen having semi-full-fledged UI capabilities, it gets a camera app of its own too - for when you'd like to take pictures (or capture video) with the phone folded shut. You get a zoom level toggle and a mode selector (that you need to tap on to then pick between modes), plus an arrow button for further settings.

There are some limitations that apply when using the outer screen, and the most notable one is that you can't get the entire camera sensor's output. You get to pick between one of two crops - the default 1:1 or a 4:3 crop across the imager's shorter side.

 - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review  - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The display's orientation is at a 90-degree angle with respect to the sensor, and getting the full coverage would mean letterboxing the live preview - so Motorola has just decided to skip that option.

The orientation mismatch and the resultant cropping also affects video recording - with the phone closed, you can only record in 1080p, be it at 30fps or 60fps. You can't enable the live preview on the outer display for video recording when the Razr is unfolded, either. All of these seemingly arbitrary limitations could very well be addressed with a software update, but as it stands at the time of reviewing, some things are just not possible.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The daylight camera performance is decent enough though perhaps not stellar in the context of a flagship phone. The level of resolved detail in these photos is great, but the software goes for some additional (over)sharpening that can be obtrusive in certain scenes.

Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/2976s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 104, 1/2516s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 107, 1/3677s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 102, 1/3111s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 103, 1/3300s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 105, 1/2988s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 101, 1/1967s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 102, 1/2932s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera daylight samples

The color reproduction is lively; the dynamic range is very good, but we've seen better - you could see some highlight clipping in challenging scenes.

Noise is otherwise well-controlled, even indoors. However, the sharpness and detail suffer in unfavorable lighting conditions.

Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 105, 1/3415s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 103, 1/1648s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 139, 1/100s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 177, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 346, 1/33s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/324s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 148, 1/100s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 101, 1/784s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera daylight samples

The extra wide aperture of f/1.5 is a double-edged sword, though. When shooting objects that are really close, it produces a nice and natural bokeh, but some parts of the subject may be blurred out due to the limited depth of field.

2x zoom

Motorola didn't include a 2x zoom toggle as the 12MP camera just isn't intended for zoom crops. Pinch-zooming allows you to take zoom photos, though, and the results aren't great. The post-processing is the same as in the 1x Photo mode, but the sharpness drops significantly.

2x zoom daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/2976s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review 2x zoom daylight samples - f/1.5, ISO 103, 1/2988s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
2x zoom daylight samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera is pretty solid in good lighting. Dynamic range is good; color reproduction and exposure metering are in line with the main camera's. And more importantly, the level of resolved detail is quite good, especially for an ultrawide shooter.

Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/1553s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 101, 1/1282s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/2026s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/1600s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/1208s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/873s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 102, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 219, 1/33s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Ultrawide daylight samples - f/2.2, ISO 338, 1/25s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Ultrawide daylight samples

To our surprise, the ultrawide camera is more consistent across scenarios than the main camera, and we liked the ultrawide samples taken indoors just as much.

Macro samples

Since the ultrawide camera supports autofocus, the Razr 40 Ultra uses it for close-up macro photography. The samples below look solid, with plenty of detail and sufficient sharpness. Performance is good in poorly-lit environments too.

Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/4306s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 263, 1/100s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/179s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 166, 1/100s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 174, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/124s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Macro samples - f/2.2, ISO 242, 1/33s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Macro samples

Portraits

The portrait mode produces shots with nice bokeh, natural-looking colors and somewhat decent amount of detail and sharpness as long as the lighting conditions allow it. Even the slightest drop in ambient light results in extra skin smoothing and a significant reduction in quality. The edge detection is working pretty well even with complex backgrounds and fails only with stray hair.

Portraits: Normal - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/162s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Portraits: Portrait mode - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/164s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Portraits: Normal - f/1.5, ISO 101, 1/2247s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Portraits: Portrait mode - f/1.5, ISO 103, 1/2276s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Portraits: Normal - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/2976s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Portraits: Portrait mode - f/1.5, ISO 105, 1/3187s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Portraits: Normal - f/1.5, ISO 177, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Portraits: Portrait mode - f/1.5, ISO 174, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Portraits: Normal - f/1.5, ISO 292, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Portraits: Portrait mode - f/1.5, ISO 300, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Portraits: Normal • Portrait mode

We've provided some non-portrait samples as well, and it looks like the software adds just a dash of more than welcomed sharpness. Everything else looks pretty much the same.

Selfies

We are providing samples from the default selfie camera and ones taken with the main camera using the secondary display as a viewfinder. To our surprise, the two methods produce samples of similar quality, which in most cases is excellent. However, we prefer the standard selfie camera only because it goes for more natural-looking colors and skin tones. Dynamic range, level of detail and sharpness are all excellent. Even in not-so-great lighting conditions, the selfie camera stays consistent.

Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 100, 1/132s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 453, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 100, 1/1139s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 100, 1/787s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 100, 1/177s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 101, 1/968s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 101, 1/1057s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 619, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 919, 1/33s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Selfies with the default selfie cam - f/2.4, ISO 638, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Selfies with the default selfie cam

Selfies with the main camera (phone closed) - f/1.5, ISO 157, 1/100s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the main camera (phone closed) - f/1.5, ISO 101, 1/419s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the main camera (phone closed) - f/1.5, ISO 248, 1/50s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Selfies with the main camera (phone closed) - f/1.5, ISO 100, 1/2805s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Selfies with the main camera (phone closed) - f/1.5, ISO 103, 1/1594s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Selfies with the main camera (phone closed)

Low-light photos

Main camera

The low-light photos in the standard Photo mode have a wide dynamic range - light sources look good, and the balance of highlights-shadows rendition is quite good.

However, sharpness leaves a lot more to be desired. The aggressive noise suppression smears most of the fine detail, and the images look quite soft upon closer inspection. There is a way around that, and it's Motorola's Night Vision mode.

Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 628, 1/25s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1296, 1/25s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1504, 1/20s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1568, 1/20s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1616, 1/20s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1184, 1/20s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1152, 1/25s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera low-light samples - f/1.5, ISO 1400, 1/25s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera low-light samples

The Night Vision mode fixes most of the issues with the sharpness. The rendition of the fine details improves, and light sources and highlights look even better too. The dedicated Night Vision mode also introduces some extra contrast and livelier colors overall. Still, we've seen better low-light photos from competitors, including the Galaxy Z Flip4.

Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 290, 1/12s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 512, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 742, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 794, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 800, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 592, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 455, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Main camera Night Vision samples - f/1.5, ISO 683, 1/12s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Main camera Night Vision samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera without the Night Vision mode are quite dark and soft. The noise-suppression algorithm is acting up again, washing away any fine detail the camera may have a chance of capturing. The dynamic range and colors look good, though, and you can see plenty of stuff in the shadows. Things get better once you turn on the Night Vision mode ON.

The Night Vision mode improves overall quality quite a bit. It brightens the shadows, clears up the noise without messing up the detail in the process and improves the light sources like street lamps and neon signs. However, the colors with the Night Vision mode come out blander for some reason.

Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 1119, 1/20s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 550, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 1968, 1/14s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 1100, 1/8s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 2720, 1/14s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 1481, 1/8s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 2448, 1/14s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 1600, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 2208, 1/14s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 1375, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 1381, 1/14s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 981, 1/10s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Low-light ultrawide: Normal - f/2.2, ISO 2208, 1/20s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Low-light ultrawide: Night Vision - f/2.2, ISO 1313, 1/12s - Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review
Low-light ultrawide: Normal • Night Vision

Here's how the primary camera on the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

Photo Compare Tool Photo Compare Tool
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra against the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and the Oppo N2 Flip in our Photo compare tool

Video recording

The handset can go up to 4K@60fps using the main and its selfie camera, while the ultrawide one caps at 4K@30fps. There's an option to disable the stabilization in case you need the extra FoV while using a tripod and also record using the Night Vision mode after dusk. However, the latter video mode is limited to 1080p resolution.

The standard 2160p@30fps videos taken with the main camera are solid - dynamic range is impressive, the colors are nice, and the level of detail is excellent. Sharpness could be better, though.

The ultrawide footage quality is understandably lower, but still pretty good. It's noticeably softer, and colors look somewhat more natural. On the other hand, the dynamic range is excellent, the detail is great, and there's no visible noise.

The stabilized 4K footage looks good, and the EIS is able to smooth out most of the vibrations, but there is a jello effect, mostly noticeable in the background.

The default low-light video isn't particularly impressive as it appears to be softer and darker than we would have liked. Noise is well-contained, though, and dynamic range is wide enough.

The dedicated Night Vision video matches the standard one in terms of sharpness and takes care of the noise, which wasn't all that obtrusive to begin, so we struggled to find any good reason to use the Night Vision mode. It records in a lower resolution, and all it does is boost the exposure resulting in a brighter scene with clipped highlights and blown-out street lamps and neon signs.

Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

Video Compare Tool Video Compare Tool
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra against the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and the Oppo N2 Flip in our Video compare tool

Competition

Although the foldable market is developing at a rapid pace, it's far from being mature enough to offer a wide variety of choices. So if you are in the market for strictly a clamshell foldable smartphone, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra should definitely be on your list to consider. It's a big improvement over the Razr 2022 and matches the feature set of most flip modern flip phones, which aren't many to begin with.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

The starting price of the Razr 40 Ultra is around €1,200 (8/256GB), which puts it in the same category as regular 2023 flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max, Xiaomi 13 Ultra, etc. So in the context of "I just need a flagship phone", the Razr 40 Ultra is far from the ideal choice as the standard form factor offers superior hardware in every way imaginable. However, in the context of vertically-foldable flagships, the Razr 40 Ultra makes a good case for itself.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 and Motorola Razr 40 Ultra

Compared to the recently released Oppo Find N2 Flip, the Razr 40 Ultra edges out with a better chipset and a bigger outer display that can run full-fledged apps. On the other hand, Oppo's contender has superior camera experience, longer battery life and faster charging - features hard to ignore when the asking price is about the same.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Oppo Find N2 Flip
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 • Oppo Find N2 Flip

Alternatively, Samsung's Galaxy Flip4 from last year asks about half of what the Razr 40 Ultra does and delivers a similar experience except for its small cover screen. However, you may want to wait for the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip5, which is rumored to sport a secondary display to match the Razr 40 Ultra's highlight feature.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra reviewMotorola Razr 40 and 40 Ultra

Last but not least, the regular Razr 40 remains a sound option if you are a fan of the form factor but have a limited budget. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset isn't the best 2023 option around since it's just a rebranded Snapdragon 778G chipset, but we believe the Razr 40 will deliver a similar user experience overall. It has the same main screen, a bigger battery and roughly the same camera hardware. You get a much smaller external screen but its price tag of €900 will much easier on your wallet too.

Verdict

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra runs on flagship hardware, asking for flagship money. Both displays are great, and we like the foldable screen implementation. They are vivid and bright enough, while the external screen offers almost full functionality. The chipset may not be the most recent one, but it's capable of running everything you find on Play Store. However, there are several pitfalls that are hard to ignore, even in the context of a foldable device.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

The stills and videos are cropped when the device is closed, the charging speed is unimpressive, and the battery life is about average. Sustained performance may also be an issue for some of you who like to play demanding games from time to time. And although powerful enough, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 isn't as energy-efficient as its successor, the SD8 Gen 2. A flip phone with such a small battery would have benefitted from the extra hardware efficiency gains.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra review

All in all, the Razr 40 Ultra marks a big improvement over its predecessor. It's competitive in the clamshell foldable category (for now), and its asking price may get you any 2023 flagship smartphone with fast charging, longer battery life and excellent camera performance. That's the price - both literally and metaphorically - for getting this exclusive form factor.

Pros

  • Nice design with some ingress protection.
  • Great main display with a rather unobtrusive crease.
  • Excellent external display that delivers a wow factor and supports full-fledged apps.
  • Polished software with 3 years of major updates.
  • Exceptional selfie performance, good ultrawide camera.

Cons

  • The main display is capped at 120Hz in most scenarios despite the 165Hz rating.
  • Agressive thermal throttling under load.
  • Average battery life, slow wired and wireless charging.

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