Most years, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip line doesn’t have much competition, but in 2022 that all changed, as the Motorola Razr 2022 became a serious rival to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4.
This wasn’t Motorola’s first clamshell foldable, but it was the company’s first genuinely great one, and it’s left us with high hopes for the Motorola Razr 2023.
We’re already hearing a little about this upcoming phone too, so below you’ll find all the news, leaks and rumors we’ve heard so far, and we’ll add to this article once we hear more.
Under that, you’ll also find a list of the things we want from the Motorola Razr 2023, to make it an even better foldable phone than the Razr 2022.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Motorola’s next foldable phone
- When is it out? Probably around August 2023
- How much will cost? Possibly around £949.99 / AU$1,599 (roughly $1,155)
Motorola Razr 2023: release date and price
The 2023 Motorola Razr series is expected to launch in June. This was first reported by leaker Max Jambor in April and then confirmed with a tweet and a teaser from Motorola directly.
There had been the question of which countries it will actually be made available in too, because while the 2022 model is available in the UK and Australia, you can’t currently buy it in the US – though previous models did launch there. The Motorola Razr is coming to the US, however, based on the company’s US brand promoting the launch event (as well as the previously mentioned rumor).
Flip the script. June 1. pic.twitter.com/gOhSmzhGzLMay 16, 2023
As for the pricing, the Motorola Razr 2022 starts at £949.99 / AU$1,599 (around $1,155), so a similar price for the next model was entirely possible. A report from 91Mobiles claims the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra (more on this later) will start at around $1000 (roughly £802/ AU$1506)
The Razr 2022 marked the best price-performance balance Motorola’s foldable series had struck to date and finally rendered them cost-competitive against Samsung’s equivalent Galaxy Z Flip. It’d be great for pricing to continue to fall, but that feels like a step too far. This would hold even if new contender Oppo looks to be pushing the needle in that direction, with the impressively approachable Oppo Find N2 Flip.
Motorola Razr 2023: news and leaks
Before we get to leaks, there’s some news straight from the CEO of Lenovo, which owns Motorola. They claim that the Razr 2023 is “much better” than the current model, and that the improvements will focus on the hinge and apps.
Now onto the leaks, we have heard a couple of things, including one claim that comes from Evan Blass, a reputable leaker who tweeted that there will be two new Razr models in 2023, not just one.
Juno is expected to be a successor to the Razr 2022, because an earlier leak on 91Mobiles said the Motorola Razr 2022’s successor was codenamed Juno and would have a 144Hz screen once again. Blass says the device is to be branded the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. This could be a move by the company to unify its foldable and non-foldable brands, cementing the Motorola Razr as a staple. A Motorola Edge 40 Pro was released in April 2023.
The U.S. Motorola Razr is reportedly differing from the global variants and adopting a Motorola Razr (2023) and Razr Plus branding to reflect the company’s branding choices in the U.S. A Motorola Edge Plus (2023) was released in May 2023.
So what about Venus? That is said to be the base Motorola Razr 40 or Motorola Razr (2023), a pared-down model of the Motorola Razr Ultra which has been previously reported as the Motorola Razr Lite.
Most reports and renders have focused on the larger folding phone, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. Blass has shown a few renders of the upcoming phone, showing a Razr with a much larger cover display with another render showing off its software. On the new design, the cover screen wraps around the camera lenses and takes up considerably more of the front face while closed. We’d love to see a more useful external screen, and a follow-up live image seems to confirm it. It also showed off a potential two-tone design that we find quite fun and fetching.
A report from XDA Developers claimed the Ultra would have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor paired with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. A pair of 12-megapixel cameras and a 32MP front-facing camera are expected to handle imaging. Another report contradicted t
At the same time, multiple reports from MySmartPrice (citing FCC certification and other sources) claimed that the Ultra would ship with a dual-cell 3,640mAh battery and be capable of 33W fast charging speeds. An earlier report had said the Razr would have a 2,850mAh battery, but that was likely due to incomplete information. From the FCC certification, the phone’s dual-cell battery is made up of said 2,850mAh battery and an additional 790mAh unit.
What we want to see
There are a number of things we’d like to see Motorola work on with the next Razr model, with the following five topping our list.
1. Better cameras
The Motorola Razr 2022 has significantly better cameras than the previous models, but there’s still room for improvement on the Razr 2023.
We want to see improvements to the post-processing, a better ultra-wide camera – as the Razr 2022’s disappoints – and ideally even the addition of a telephoto lens; though that last bit might be too much to hope for.
2. Long-term update support
Motorola is only promising two years of Android version updates and three years of security patches with the Razr 2022, which just isn’t enough, especially for such an expensive phone, and all the more so given that Samsung and OnePlus are offering four years of Android updates and five years of security patches with select phones.
So, we want to see Motorola commit to much longer software support with the Razr 2023, otherwise it could be hard to recommend.
3. Water resistance
It seems like it would be hard to make a foldable phone water-resistant, but somehow Samsung has managed it with recent handsets, so we’d like to see Motorola do the same with the next Razr.
Technically, you do get some on the Razr 2022, but its IP52 rating falls far short of what Samsung offers.
Decent water resistance is a standard feature on premium phones and with good reason – since the last thing you want is a little rain turning your purchase into an expensive paperweight.
4. Wireless charging
While the Motorola Razr 2022 has reasonable battery life and charges quite quickly, it only supports wired charging, which is a shame in such a pricey handset, especially as its main rival – the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 – does offer wireless charging. So we’d like the Motorola Razr 2023 to offer it too.
5. Smoother performance
There’s no shortage of power in the Motorola Razr 2022, yet in our review we found that the actual performance wasn’t always great, with some noticeable jumps and stutters at times.
Given the hardware and the price, that’s not really acceptable, so we’d like to see the Razr 2023 optimized to offer smooth performance consistently, as that will help it rank among the best foldable phones.
