Samsung should be worried about the Motorola Razr Fold

I’ve been an Android fan since I was 16. In the 14 years since then, Samsung has been the immovable force in the Android world. I never thought that would change, but then again, I never thought I’d use something besides a Samsung phone as my daily driver, but here we are.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 was a step in the right direction for Samsung. After years of stagnation, the thinner design that didn’t compromise on camera or battery hardware, compared to its predecessor, felt huge. It still didn’t compare to what Chinese manufacturers like OPPO were doing with the Find N5, but it was easily the best foldable sold in the US. That wasn’t difficult when its competition was the disappointing Pixel 10 Pro Fold and aged OnePlus Open.

Motorola’s Razr Fold is changing that. I know we haven’t had much time with it yet, but on paper, the Razr Fold embarrasses the Z Fold 7 in almost every way. In the camera department, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Z Fold 7 may hold its ground thanks to a 200MP main sensor. But as someone who’s lived with Samsung’s 200MP cameras across the Galaxy S23 Ultra, S24 Ultra, and the Fold 7 itself, I don’t think Samsung stands a chance. More important than megapixel count is how much light a phone’s camera can capture, and the Razr Fold’s 50MP camera has some advantages.

By spreading fewer pixels over a similar sensor size, each one can capture more light. The Razr Fold’s primary camera has a pixel size of 1.6 microns, while the 200MP unit on the Fold 7 has a pixel size of just 0.6 microns. The Razr also has a wider aperture of f/1.6, compared to the Fold 7’s f/1.7. I know there’s more to making a good camera than hardware specs like this. The image signal processor and imaging software play important roles, but I haven’t been satisfied with Samsung’s entire imaging pipeline for years.

Things look worse for the Fold 7 as we look at the ultrawide and telephoto cameras. The Fold 7 has the same paltry 10MP 3X telephoto camera we first saw in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, and it hasn’t aged well. The ultrawide isn’t much better at 12MP. Not only are these disappointing cameras, but the difference in hardware quality compared to the 200MP primary sensor makes photos and videos taken across the three lenses wildly inconsistent.

The Razr Fold dominates the conversation with its secondary cameras. Both are 50MP sensors, so while the aperture and pixel sizes differ from the primary camera, they should both be more consistent than Samsung’s mismatched sensors. The 50MP 3X telephoto and ultrawide cameras on Motorola’s new phone should blow Samsung’s cameras out of the water, and I’d be shocked if that isn’t the case when we get our hands on it.

The rest of Motorola’s hardware impresses as much as the cameras do. While the Fold 7 has a meager 4,400mAh battery with 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging, the Razr Fold has a silicon-carbon (Si-C) battery with a 6,000mAh capacity that supports 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. To put that into perspective, the Razr’s battery is 1,000 mAh larger than what you’ll find in a Galaxy S26 Ultra and charges faster, too.

Motorola’s screens will sear your corneas in ways the Fold 7, or any Samsung phone, can’t. Both of the Fold 7’s displays max out at 2,600 nits of peak brightness with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Razr Fold can blind you with a 6,000-nit cover display and a 6,200-nit inner screen. Those screens are also 165Hz and are 10-bit panels, which means they can show 1 billion colors compared to Samsung’s 16 million. In short, the Razr Fold has a screen that’s brighter, smoother, and more colorful than anything Samsung sells.

Samsung still has one thing going for it: its software. One UI has always been one of my favorite flavors of Android, especially on book-style foldables. One UI has pop-up windows, better split-screen multitasking than any other Android skin or even iPadOS, and an almost unlimited number of ways to make it your own with Good Lock.

Motorola’s software on a flip phone is better than Samsung’s for the most part, especially when you’re using the cover screen. You can effectively use the phone normally without opening it, which you can’t quite replicate on a Z Flip. The Razr Fold can’t rely on any of those advantages — the cover screen of a book-style foldable is just a normal phone screen, after all.

Motorola’s software might be excellent, but we won’t know until we try it. Samsung has the advantage of making a popular line of tablets for over a decade, and the software from those devices is easily adapted to something like a Z Fold 7.

I’m looking forward to trying the Razr Fold. The hardware looks incredibly promising, and if Motorola can deliver, it could embarrass the Z Fold 7. I know that a spec sheet and how a phone performs in the real world don’t always match up.

On paper, I should hate my Pixel 10 Pro compared to my wife’s Galaxy S26 Ultra, but the opposite is true. Even so, I’m more excited for the Razr Fold than I have been for any other phone in a long time, and I can’t wait to see what Motorola has pulled off.