Motorola has just announced two new foldable phones, the entry-level Motorola Razr 2024 and the premium Motorola Razr Plus 2024 (a.k.a Motorola Razr 50 Ultra outside of the US). That’s the successor to last year’s Motorola Razr Plus 2023, and comes with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 foldable.
The 2023 Razr Plus is one of the best foldable phones you can buy, and the best one you can buy in a flip phone format. Naturally the pressure is on Motorola to ensure the Razr Plus 2024 is a worthy successor. The good news is that a lot has changed this year, and generally for the better.
But what sort of upgrades can you expect from the Motorola Razr 2024? Here’s everything you need to know.
Motorola Razr Plus (2024) Specs
| Motorola Razr Plus 2023 | Motorola Razr Plus 2024 | |
| Starting price | $999/£782/AU$1,469 | $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 |
| Inner screen size | 6.9-inch pOLED (2640 x 1080) | 6.9-inch pOLED (2640 x 1080) |
| Outer screen size | 3.6-inch pOLED (1066 x 1056) | 4.0" pOLED display 1272 x 1080 |
| Refresh rate | 165 Hz (inner), 144Hz (outer) | 165 Hz (inner and outer) |
| CPU | Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| RAM | 8GB | 12GB |
| Storage | 256GB, UFS 3.1 | 256GB, UFS 4.0 |
| Rear cameras | 12MP main (f/1.5), 13MP ultrawide (f/2.2) | 50MP (f/1.7), 50MP telephoto (f/2.0) w/ 2x optical zoom |
| Selfie camera | 32MP (f/2.4) | 32MP (f/2.4) |
| Battery size | 3,800 mAh | 4,000 mAh |
| Dimensions | 6.72 x 2.91 x 0.27 inch (unfolded), 3.4 x 2.91 x 0.59 inch (folded) | 6.74 x 2.91 x 0.27 inch (Unfolded), 3.46 x 2.91 x 0.60 inch (folded) |
| Weight | 6.53 oz | 6.66 oz |
| Colors | Infinite Black, Glacier Blue, Viva Magenta, Peach Fuzz | Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Peach Fuzz, Hot Pink |
Bigger and better cover display
The large cover display was one of the standout features of the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, and the 2024 model has made it sound even better. The screen has grown to 4-inches, an increase of 0-4-inches, which means there should be slightly more room for all the apps and software you’re going to run without opening your phone.
If that wasn’t enough the refresh rate has increased from 144Hz to 165Hz, meaning it matches the interior, and upgrades the panel to LTPO. As a result, the Razr Plus' display will be able to dynamically shift between 1 and 165Hz depending on what’s happening on screen.
Brighter screens
The interior display hasn’t really changed since last year in terms of size or resolution, but both the interior and exterior displays have had pretty significant boosts to their brightness. So while the interior display hasn’t changed all that much since last year, its brightness has jumped from 1,400 nits to a crazy 3,000 nits. The cover display isn’t quite as bright, but still jumped from 1,100 nits to 2,400.
The interior screen is actually brighter than the Google Pixel 8 Pro's 2,400-nit brightness and the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 2,000-nit rating, but can’t quite compete with the OnePlus 12, which is advertised as reaching 4,500 nits of peak brightness. Needless to say, both screens have had a pretty significant upgrade, which means the Razr Plus 2024’s screens should perform incredibly well even in the glare of sunlight.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
The Motorola Razr Plus 2023 disappointed some by packing in a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, rather than the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. That wasn't a bad chip, by any means, but it did feel weird having a $999 phone that didn’t have the best chip on the market.
Thankfully, Motorola didn’t repeat that mistake, and the Razr Plus 2024 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 — the same silicon as all those other flagship Android phones like the Galaxy S24 and OnePlus 12.
The main benefit to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is that it’s the most powerful chip Qualcomm has to offer for a non-Samsung phone. But it’s also been built with efficiency in mind, meaning it won’t use up quite as much power to get stuff done. Then there’s the AI processing, which is getting all the more important these days — even if Motorola hasn’t added anything particularly extravagant to the Razr Plus 2024.
But all in all, the chipset upgrade means a more powerful phone and smoother operation for everything you want to get done — and without tanking your battery life in the process.
A much better camera
While hardware isn’t everything in the camera world, having better camera lenses is never a bad thing. This year the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 has added a 50MP main camera, which is a big improvement from the 12MP shooter we saw last year. Considering how much you had to pay for a 2023 Razr Plus that definitely wasn’t good enough, so we are very excited about the megapixel boost.
Interestingly Motorola has ditched the 12MP ultrawide lens in favor of a 50MP telephoto camera — complete with 2x magnification. Apparently customers told Motorola that they preferred a telephoto lens, especially for portrait shots. The added bonus, in addition to the extra resolution, is that your zoomed-in shots are going to look so much better. Digital zoom has improved a lot, but it still can’t compete with optical magnification.
AI
AI is the hot topic right now, and Motorola hasn’t completely ignored that — though it isn’t exactly raising the bar of what to expect from mobile AI. The main AI upgrade is the inclusion of Google Gemini Nano, an on-device AI chatbot that lets you do all the things chatbots can do.
There are also AI-powered camera upgrades which should enhance the upgraded hardware with some software magic. This includes an Action Shot, which adjusts shutter speed depending on the subject’s pre-capture movement. There’s also a super zoom feature, adaptive stabilization and advanced long exposure that captures creative motion with a single tap.
More RAM and better storage
This year Motorola has added an extra 4GB of RAM to the Razr Plus, meaning you’re starting out with 12GB instead of 8GB. That means you’ll be able to do more on your phone without everything slowing down, or forcing apps to close on you.
On top of that, while storage is still stuck at 256GB with no other options available, Motorola has upgraded to the UFS 4.0. This offers significantly faster read and write speeds while also using up less power in the process. That’s just another way you’ll be able to get stuff done more quickly and without killing your battery in the process.
A bigger battery
This year Motorola has upped the battery on the Razr Plus 2024 to 4,000 mAh. There are bigger batteries out there, but it’s still pretty good for a phone this small. The question is how much extra battery life we’re likely to get out of it.
The Motorola Razr Plus 2023 lasted 10 hours and 9 minutes in our custom battery test. That’s not terrible but it’s not enough to make it onto our best phone battery life list. so there’s plenty of room for improvement.
We won’t know how much extra battery life we will get out of the Razr Plus 2024 until we get it into the lab, if any. The question is whether the extra battery capacity, combined with the extra power efficiency, will make much of a difference, especially with the extra screen brightness.
Faster charging
30W charging isn’t that bad, but you know what’s even better? 45W charging. That’s the maximum speed you can reach when wired charging the Motorola Razr Plus 2024. Motorola hasn’t specified any timings on that front, and you will need a Motorola TurboPower charger to reach those speeds.
Wireless charging has also increased from 5W to 15W. It’s not super fast wireless charging like you’d get with someone like OnePlus, but it’s still a pretty solid wireless charging speed. Thankfully you don’t need a special charger to reach 15W. Reverse wireless charging is also available at 5W, which is ideal for smaller items like earbuds or wearables.
Other notable upgrades
Other upgrades on offer this year include vegan leather, rather than metal or plastic, while the cover display retains the durable Gorilla Glass Victus. There’s also Wi-Fi 7 support in certain unspecified regions, and an IPX8 water resistance rating — which is a big leap over IP52 on the Razr Plus 2023. While the loss of any dust resistance rating isn’t great, I’d argue that water resistance is just as important.
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