5 Android phones you should buy instead of the Motorola Razr Fold

There’s a lot to be excited about here, including the large 8.1-inch 2K LTPO display with pen support, a 6,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging, and a triple 50MP camera setup with a main lens, an ultrawide, and a 3x telephoto. But, despite Motorola’s pedigree in the Razr clamshell line-up, this is still its first attempt at a larger foldable, and there are concerns about the Razr Fold’s crease, the actual performance of those cameras, and whether the software optimization is as good for larger screens as it is for smaller screens.

You might not want to spend the full $1,900 price tag on the Razr Fold’s unproven track record, so here are five other options you should consider before buying Motorola’s first book-style foldable.

If you’re in the market for a book-style foldable, your first choice on the list should be the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. It is the thinnest and lightest phone in its category in the US market, and is the seventh generation of foldables from the company that has mastered this category so far.

While I have many questions about Motorola’s unproven software for the larger foldable, Samsung is refining One UI to be foldable-friendly and offer optimized multitasking and a seamless transition between closed, open, tent, and laptop modes, as well as some other unique Fold-only features.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 also has a more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a 200MP main sensor and ultra-wideband in the Motorola Razr, even if it falls slightly short in terms of display brightness, charging speed, battery capacity and telephoto lens resolution. Motorola’s foldable also supports pen input, while Samsung’s does not. But when you consider that Samsung’s foldable has been out for a while and often drops to $1600, $300 cheaper than the Razer Fold, it’s easy to overlook these small differences.

Look, on paper, there shouldn’t be many reasons to consider Google’s foldable over Motorola’s Razr Fold. But listen to me for a second.

First of all, considering the negatives, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a heavy and slightly thick phone. Its display isn’t as bright, its Tensor G5 processor doesn’t perform as well, its battery is smaller and charges slower, and its ultrawide and telephoto lenses can’t compare to the Razer Fold’s 50MP setup. But, it also has some redeeming qualities.

For one, it’s the only foldable with a proper dust resistance rating of IP68, while Motorola has put the Razr Fold’s dust ingress at level 4. For phones with moving hinge parts that can be easily damaged by a speck of dust, this is important. I’m not afraid to carry my Pixel 10 Pro Fold around at all times, but with other foldables, I had to be careful about where I kept them and avoid lint-filled pockets at all times. Google also offers a whole suite of unique software features like Qi2 charging with built-in magnets, ultra-wideband, satellite connectivity in case of emergencies and car crash detection, assisted calling features and more.

It also helps to see pricing. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold often drops to $1,500, sometimes even $1,400. This makes it $400 to $500 cheaper than the Motorola Razr Fold. Plus, this means you’ll get all the brand new Android features and updates right away.

If you love Motorola and want to stick with the brand, perhaps the most prudent question you should ask yourself is whether you want a book-style foldable or not. Sure, they look good when you open them up and you have a big screen, but what if you go the other way? The Razer Ultra (2026) is a phone that packs even smaller, so you can fit it in even the smallest of jeans pockets.

The Razer Ultra is obviously lighter and more compact than the Fold, packing a much brighter display, running a better Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, and starting at 512GB of storage with 16GB of RAM, which is the higher, more expensive tier of the Razer Fold. Both phones share a lot of the same or equivalent DNA, with similar cam setups (except for the telephoto absent on the Ultra), charging speeds, and battery technologies.

What tips the balance in the Ultra’s favor is that Motorola has mastered the art of the clamshell. Its software has been impeccably adapted to smaller external displays over many years and iterations. Plus, it’s much cheaper than the Fold, which starts at $1,500.

Although I love taking my foldable almost everywhere, for some reason it’s not my primary phone: it’s just too inconvenient to use it as the main device all day. That’s why I recommend anyone looking at book-style foldables to really think about their use cases and whether they’re willing to sacrifice the convenience of a phone for the limited benefits of a smaller tablet.

In that case, my recommendation would go to Samsung’s latest and greatest – the Galaxy S26 Ultra. You get the best processor in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, a powerful 200MP main lens with two telephoto lenses and an ultrawide, an IP68 rating, and a built-in stylus without paying for it. Plus, there’s also an exciting new Privacy Display that hides part or all of your screen from prying eyes.

If you want to skip the foldable, the Galaxy S26 Ultra can save you a lot of money and still give you an excellent smartphone experience. This often drops to $1,000, sometimes even $950, which is half the price of the Razer Fold without the pen, i.e., practically a steal.

Going back to foldables, one last option that you should definitely consider instead of the Motorola Razr Fold is Samsung’s previous generation Galaxy Z Fold 6. While the phone was released in 2024, it still packs a punch at a ridiculously affordable price.

Like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, you get all of Samsung’s software optimizations for big-screen foldables and a decent Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. Everything else is a bit bad on paper (camera, display brightness, battery capacity, charging speed and the rest of the promised updates before the phone is EOL’ed), but don’t forget that this is a “budget” option these days.

You can get a refurbished unit on Amazon for $600, making it an absolute steal and an easy way to test your commitment to foldables before spending nearly two grand on a new model.