Motorola Razr Plus 2024 review: taking cool just a bit too far

Welcome design updates and offensive AI

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green standing like a tent with a clock on its face
(Image: © Philip Berne / Future)

TechRadar Verdict

Motorola ups the ante on the cool Razr Plus with a bigger cover display, a more durable build and … AI?! Ugh, who invited that guy to the Razr party? Even some weird AI features can’t spoil all that Razr cool, though. This year’s phone looks better than ever and performs like a champ. I still wish it had better cameras, and the AI stuff just needs to go, but otherwise the Razr Plus 2024 is a superb modern flip phone, especially if you can get one for less than the list price.

Pros

  • +

    Cool colors and a more durable design with vegan leather

  • +

    Larger cover display is brighter and more immersive

  • +

    Easy interface with useful gestures, not overloaded with features

Cons

  • -

    New Moto AI features offer the same bigotry as other AI image generators

  • -

    Cameras are better, but still can’t match the best camera phones

  • -

    Performance lags behind competitors, especially the new Galaxy

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Motorola Razr Plus 2024: Two-minute review

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 showing Hello Moto screen on cover display

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Motorola has done it. If you’re sick of the same old smartphone, the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 is your cure. The Razr Plus is the flip phone that should be the envy of boring slab phone owners everywhere. It’s bright and colorful in every way, inside and out, screens and shell. This Razr is completely different in (mostly) the best ways. 

I didn’t think last year’s Motorola Razr Plus needed much improvement, but Motorola has improved it anyway. The best flip-phone cover display, larger and more versatile than the file-folder window on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6, is even bigger and brighter this year than before. It fills the phone and gives you a miniature window into all of your apps. Apps become more useful than ever when you use them on this palm-sized marvel

The Razr Plus 2024 also gets a welcome durability upgrade, and it’s now water resistant enough to take a dunk. Motorola’s vegan leather, with a new suede feel, replaces the glass on the back of the Razr Plus. The result is a colorful finish that feels great to hold, giving the Razr a unique look all its own. It also won’t slip off your desk. 

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green closed and showing the spine

No branding on the spine, unlike Samsung's Z Flip (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Has Motorola avoided the latest smartphone AI fads? Or has it crammed AI onto the new Razr 2024 phones? Unfortunately, it’s the latter. Motorola has run with the crowd and pushed half-baked AI onto its new Razr Plus, with predictably bad results that may only get worse. 

The Razr Plus 2024 has Moto AI tools that highlight the worst stereotyping tendencies of generative AI. Moto AI produces results that seem racist, misogynist, ageist, and anti-Semitic. The AI tools on the Razr Plus 2024 show how AI is not ready for retail. Tools like this should not be part of a consumer device, especially an expensive smartphone. It’s embarrassing, and the Moto AI image generator needs to go.

Kind of a bummer, right? I was excited for the new Motorola Razr Plus 2024, with its new colors and bigger cover display, but the offensive AI quelled my excitement. Even worse, Motorola promises that even more intrusive AI features are coming. Right now, the bigotry is confined to the wallpapers, but soon Moto AI will be listening to all of your phone calls and conversations. Ugh.

Frankly, you can ignore these new AI features on the Razr Plus 2024. This phone is still very good without the AI gimmicks. The improved hinge on the Razr Plus 2024 snaps open and shut with more aplomb. You can take a group photo and watch people smile when they see themselves on the cover screen. 

Motorola Razr and Razr Plus 2024 folded and open in various colors

All of the Motorola Plus 2024 color options (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Nasty AI can’t make this phone less cool, right? It comes in Hot Pink! Can AI ruin Hot Pink? No, nothing can ruin Hot Pink. 

For now, I’d take a wait-and-see approach to buying the Motorola Razr Plus 2024. If the price drops, or if Motorola cleans up its AI act a little bit, this will be an easier phone to recommend. However, if you’d rather not endorse Motorola’s vision of a mobile AI future, I would avoid it and look for a future that’s a little less cool.

Razr Plus 2024 review: Price and availability

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green showing TechRadar.com on the big display

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • Available to pre-order for $999.99 / £999.99 / AU $1,699
  • 256GB storage in US; 512GB storage in UK and Australia
  • Called Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in the US, Motorola Razr 50 Ultra everywhere else

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 starts around $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$1,700, which puts it in the same price range as the Google Pixel 8 Pro and the Apple iPhone 15 Pro

To Motorola’s benefit, Samsung raised the price of its flip phone by $100 / AU$150 (the Z Flip’s price is unchanged in the UK), making the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 more expensive than the Razr Plus 2024 in those regions.

That’s a lot of competition at this price, but Motorola loves to offer discounts, so I would wait for a good deal if you don’t need to buy this phone right away. The Razr Plus 2023 saw fantastic deals throughout its first year on the market, including a perpetual $300 discount in the US.

Will the new Razr Plus 2024 get the same deals? Only time will tell, but the improvements here aren’t so groundbreaking that a price cut is out of the question. The cover display is a bit larger, and the phone is now officially water resistant, instead of just unofficially splashproof.

This phone would be an easier choice if it cost less, but at this price I worry that it competes poorly on cameras, long-term software support, and overall durability – aspects that make a smartphone worth keeping for longer. If Moto dropped the price by 25% or more, I wouldn’t care so much. 

  • Value score: 3 / 5
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Razr Plus 2024 prices
StorageUS priceUK priceAU price
256GB US / 512GB UK and Australia$999.99£999AU$1,699

Razr Plus 2024 review: Specs

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 (left) and Razr 2024 (right) (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Motorola only offers one configuration for the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in the US, and another in the UK and Australia – you get 12GB of RAM wherever you are, with 256GB of storage in the US and 512GB in the UK and Australia. Don’t worry, US fans; that’s enough space, especially if you use cloud storage for photos and videos. 

The Razr Plus 2024 doesn’t skimp on specs when it comes to its two displays: each screen refreshes at a blazing fast 165Hz, and brightness levels are exceptionally high. 

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 is the first phone with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset that was announced earlier this year. It’s a step down from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor found in phones like the OnePlus 12, but Qualcomm says it can still handle more AI tasks than older Snapdragon platforms. I found performance to be acceptable for non-AI tasks, and battery life was excellent on this new platform. 

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 - Cell 1
Dimensions (open):73.99 x 171.42 x 7.09mm
Dimensions (closed): 73.99 x 88.09x 15.32mm
Weight:189g
Internal screen:6.9-inch pOLED LTPO
External screen:4.0-inch pOLED LTPO
Resolution (Internal / External): 2640 x 1080 / 1272 x 1080 pixels
Refresh rate (Internal / External): 165Hz / 165Hz
Peak brightness (Internal / External): 3,000 nits / 2,400 nits
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 256GB (US) / 512GB (UK and Australia)
OS:Android 14
External Cameras: 50MP wide; 50MP 2X zoom
Internal Camera: 32MP
Battery: 4,000 mAh
Charging: 45W
Colors: Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Peach Fuzz, Hot Pink

Razr Plus 2024 review: Design

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • Bigger cover display than any other flip phone
  • Stylish color options available
  • Cameras sometimes get in the way

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 is the coolest phone you can buy, and Moto has clad it in some fabulous colors, including the Spring Green of my review sample and a Hot Pink that’s a throwback to 2005’s pink Motorola Razr V3. Motorola has found its audience for this phone – people who hate boring slabs of glass and metal, even if the metal is titanium. 

Everything about the design is thoughtful and slick, from the ‘vegan leather’ back that shows off the Peach Fuzz paint job nicely, to the humongous cover display that the twin camera lenses float in like lily pads in a pixel pond. The foldable inner screen lays so flat you have to concentrate to feel the crease.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green playing SZA on Spotify

Sometimes it doesn't matter if the cameras are in the way (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

That folding mechanism is improved as well. It snaps open and shut in a much more satisfying way than on the Razr Plus 2023, and flicking the phone open and slamming it shut is a joy that becomes addictive; I may need to start making more phone calls so I can answer and hang up more often. The Razr Plus 2024 is also more durable, with an IPX8 rating ensuring that it can take a dunk under water without issue. It’s not all perfect. Sure, the cover display is amazing, wrapping around the camera lenses like pixel magic, but some important buttons on my apps were obscured by those lenses, and while you can resize apps to fit better, it’s a chore. On Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6, the cover display is smaller, but it isn’t blocked by the lenses. Samsung may be onto something here.

I also take issue with ‘vegan leather,’ but only because ‘vegan’ gets confused with ‘environmentally friendly.’ Vegan leather is plastic. It’s very nice plastic, and Motorola says it won’t fade or stain, and it’s still good for vegans because no animals were harmed in its production. Other benefits seem purely aesthetic, not environmental. Whatever, aesthetic is in. 

If you want a phone that’s cooler than what everybody else is carrying, get the Razr Plus 2024. Watch eyes widen when you fold it in half and tuck it away. Check the smiles on your cover display as you take a group photo.

This is a phone for showing off, and my biggest design complaint is that I can only choose one color. Check back around the new year, as well, because Motorola has partnered with Pantone for two years straight to launch Razr phones in Pantone’s Color of the Year. 

  • Design score: 5 / 5

Razr Plus 2024 review: Display

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green with Google Maps on the cover display

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • Wow and wow: both the inner and outer displays are excellent
  • Interior screen is humongous
  • Both displays are super-bright, maybe too bright

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 has a larger cover display than last year’s Razr Plus, and though it didn’t need the upgrade, the bigger outer screen cements Motorola’s dominance in flip phones. This is how a flip smartphone should look. Once you’ve used it, with its dominating cover display, you’ll see that no other flip phone comes close. 

Both screens on the Razr Plus 2024 are incredibly bright. The big interior screen can hit 3,000 nits peak brightness, according to Moto, and the cover display can go to 2,400 nits. That’s too bright for a phone I leave next to my bed – checking messages late at night, I blasted myself in the face with bright light more than a few times. 

The cover screen wraps around the camera lenses for a signature Motorola look that Samsung hasn’t aped for its Galaxy Z Flip series. Sometimes those lenses get in the way, as on my Roku TV remote app, where some buttons are hidden. I still think it’s a better look than the cutout that Samsung uses; I just wish developers accounted for apps being shown on a smaller, squarish screen. 

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green showing the Roku TV app running on the cover display with buttons blocked by the camera lenses

Sometimes those cameras block important buttons (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The foldable inner display is flatter than ever – I can’t see the crease unless I hold the phone at an angle to the light. I can hardly feel the crease either, even if I flick my finger back and forth. 

  • Display score: 5 / 5

Razr Plus 2024 review: Software

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green showing the keyboard on the cover display

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • A light touch on Androi… wait, is that AI? Oh no
  • Motorola makes the huge AI mistake we’ve been hoping it would avoid

I’ll get the basic Motorola Android software out of the way first so I can rant about my huge problems with Moto AI. I was hoping that Motorola would stay away from AI – OnePlus has mostly managed to avoid the topic – but unfortunately, Moto ventures into dangerous AI territory, and the results are sadly predictable. 

Ignoring Moto AI, the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 is a solid Android phone. Motorola’s version of Android looks a lot like Android on the Google Pixel 8. Moto doesn’t brand its interface; it’s just Android 14. It also doesn’t promise five years of software updates, so don’t expect to run Android 19 on this phone, like you will (hopefully) with the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 8 phones.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green showing Quick Settings

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Motorola has added useful shortcuts to its phones. I love the camera gesture: you twist your wrist a couple of times to launch it. I found this even more fun and reliable than double-pressing the power button, which is the shortcut on most Android phones. You can also ‘chop’ the phone twice to toggle the flashlight on and off.

Both of these shortcuts also work when the phone is closed, which makes taking selfies on the cover display even easier, with a quick double twist of my wrist. The Razr Plus is also the best flashlight phone I’ve ever used, since it’s so easy to hold when it’s closed.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

This butterfly background was made with Moto AI (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Okay, enough compliments – let’s talk about AI. Motorola has added some AI features, with more on the way. I’ll start with AI wallpaper, because it’s emblematic of the larger problem. 

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 has an AI wallpaper generator, but it’s nothing like the AI wallpaper you’ll find on the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S24, both of which use AI as a tool to produce stylish and unique wallpapers. 

The Motorola Razr Plus, on the other hand, produces images that often cling to stereotypes, with repeated results that are racist, misogynistic, and bigoted. I wish I were joking. 

On the Pixel 8, the AI wallpaper is limited. You choose a look such as ‘Soft-focus,’ and then you fill in some blanks: “A soft-focus photo of ________ with ________ hues.” 

You can’t fill the blanks with any word you choose – there are options to pick. For the first blank, there are eight choices, including Butterflies, Flowers, and Fireflies. There are nine options for the hues, including Red, Cream, and Natural. It’s limited, but you get 72 different options, and the phone creates four images each time you generate a wallpaper from a phrase. So that one ‘Soft-focus’ scene results in 288 wallpapers. You can ask the phone to generate new wallpaper again and again based on the same phrase, so the choices are limited, but there are infinite possible results. 

If the Pixel 8 seems too constrained in this respect, and you’d like the option to submit open prompts, as you’ll find on Midjourney and other AI image-generation tools, I have good news and bad news. 

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green showing an AI wallpaper of a lighthouse

Moto AI created this happy, furry lighthouse wallpaper for me (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The good news is that the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 has an AI wallpaper feature that can generate anything you can imagine (with some limits); the bad news is that the generative AI image tools are so bad that they're offensive. 

How is the Razr Plus 2024 offensive? That depends on what a happy person looks like. Or a successful person. A happy person could look like anybody! So, how does an AI generate an image of a happy person? What image does it create, drawing upon its understanding of a successful person?

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

I asked the Razr Plus 2024 to make me a wallpaper image of “a happy person.” I asked 10 times. Eight of the images were young, white, blond women smiling. Another image was a young, white man smiling, and the last was a dark-haired, young, white woman. 

I tried the same test for a number of terms, and the results were strikingly similar. If you ask the Moto AI wallpaper tool to create an image of “a successful person,” I’ll bet you $1,000 that person will be young, male, and white. 

It’s a huge problem when your AI has been modeled to understand that only young white people can be happy or successful, but if you think that’s bad, buckle up.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

Can you guess what I asked for when I got this result? (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

I asked the Razr Plus 2024 to make me a wallpaper of “a Jewish person.” I asked 20 times. I got 20 white men. Not a single woman, nor any other skin tone. Almost all the men were wearing hats, beards, and payes, the long locks that Orthodox Jews grow at their temples. There was nobody who might not be an Orthodox Jew, even though Orthodox Judaism accounts for only one in seven Jews in the world. I asked for “a Palestinian person” and I only got men with beards. 

When an AI has been modeled to understand that all Jewish people look the same, or that all Palestinian people look the same, to the exclusion of women, then that AI will generate images that support stereotypes including anti-Semitism, misogyny, and other forms of bigotry. That’s what I see happening with Moto AI, and I have a huge problem with this.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

Don't look close or you may barf (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Also, it’s just weird. I asked for “friends having fun at the beach” and I only got groups of young, white people, mostly wearing string bikinis. AI doesn’t do good string bikinis, and the photos were monstrous, like a horror movie. I asked for “a strong person” and I got impossibly muscle-bound men, often only a view of bodies from the bulging neck to below the bulging crotch. I’m not joking. 

How did this make it into a final product? This is entirely unacceptable. Moto AI isn’t an AI wallpaper generator. It’s an AI stereotype generator. It needs to be removed. 

If Motorola isn’t taking this seriously, maybe it will if one of its execs asks its own AI for an image of “a cool smartphone.” I got pictures of an iPhone Pro, with its characteristic triangle camera layout. I got no pictures of a Motorola Razr.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

That's no six pack. How many packs is that, 8? 12? (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Before this review, I took the unusual step of telling Motorola that I had serious concerns about the AI image tool, and asked if they had any response. I shared the results of my queries, and the conclusions I was drawing. At press time, Motorola had no response. 

If you do use the Moto AI wallpaper generator, despite all of the above, be warned that there’s a monthly limit to how many images you can create. You can’t buy more images, so you just have to wait until the first of the next month. 

  • Software score: 1 / 5

Razr Plus 2024 review: Cameras

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • Image quality is good, but still not great
  • Taking photos and video is much more fun with a Razr

Photographers say the best camera is the one you have with you; I carry two or three phones at a time, so I would say that the best camera is the one I like using the most. Whether or not the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 takes the best photos, it is the most fun camera to use in almost every situation. 

Video shooting is especially clever with the Razr Plus. The camera automatically recognizes ‘camcorder mode,’ when you bend the screen halfway and aim the camera at the action. The Razr Plus will start recording video automatically, and you can stop with a tap anywhere on the bottom half of the screen. 

Shooting selfies is ridiculously fun. There’s no need to open the phone – I just give my wrist a twist (or tap the Camera app) and the cover display shows what the camera sees. Instead of using the selfie camera, the higher-quality main cameras can take selfies and portraits. Holding the folded Razr Plus is easier than trying to hold a large smartphone for selfie shots, and people loved seeing themselves on the cover display as I lined up group photos. 

The Razr Plus has even more creative shooting options. You can fold the phone in a variety of ways to make it stand on its own. If you want a selfie when the phone is aiming up from the ground, just raise a palm and the camera will start a countdown. It works very nicely. There’s also a Photobooth mode that will take four shots in a row and post the quad-photo composite to Google Photos

Images from the Razr Plus 2024 look good, and photos are definitely helped by whatever AI tools Motorola is applying. Colors look very saturated in most shots, although photographs seem to lack a sense of depth and life. In photos with a blurred bokeh background, the blurring looks very artificial and digital, and not smooth like you’d get from a better camera. 

The camera also had trouble focusing, especially for close-ups. It never seemed to get exactly what I wanted in the sharpest plane of focus, even if I tapped on my subject on the screen before taking the shot. 

I also had some trouble with the digital level that you can use on the camera screen to ensure that your photos look straight. My landscape photos often seemed crooked, even though I followed the level until it turned green. 

  • Camera score: 3 / 5

Razr Plus 2024 camera samples

Here are samples taken in New York City and the surrounding suburbs

Razr Plus 2024 review: Performance

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • Mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
  • Performance was smooth until the AI needed to talk to the cloud

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 is the first phone launched with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, and the ‘s’ apparently stands for ‘slower.’ In Future Labs’ benchmark tests, the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 landed closer to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, which uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, than the Galaxy S24, which has the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. We’re still putting the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 through testing, but it has the same processor inside as the Galaxy S24. 

Still, I had no trouble running any of my apps on the Motorola Razr Plus 2024, and the interface was smooth and snappy. Even fancy tricks like opening the camera with gestures, or moving an app from the big internal display to the smaller cover screen, worked with no delay. The phone also did a great job playing games and movies, including high-resolution, multiplayer games like Call of Duty: Mobile.

My only setback came when I was using the new AI features. I have Google Gemini loaded on the phone, and I subscribe to Gemini Advanced, so I enjoyed using Gemini on the Moto Razr Plus cover display – you can’t do that on the Galaxy Z Flip 6. However, most AI features were very laggy, especially compared to the performance of similar features, like the AI writing tools and AI wallpapers, on the Pixel 8 Pro and Galaxy S24. Whether I was generating a new wallpaper or just revising some text, I had to wait for a connection to Motorola’s cloud, and this added a long delay. 

In fact, often the AI features would simply fail to connect, seemingly for no reason. I could make 10 successful requests in a row, then all of a sudden the AI would stop working for the next request. It would usually work again if I changed one word slightly, but there was no apparent problem with my choice of words; it just stopped working, then started again. 

  • Performance score: 3 / 5

Razr Plus 2024 review: Battery

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
  • Excellent battery life beats the competition
  • Fast charging is nice, but no charger included

That mid-range Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor on the Razr Plus 2024 pays off in battery life, if not in performance. The Razr Plus has a 4,000mAh battery that is only 7.5% larger than the 3,700mAh cell in the Galaxy Z Flip 5, but it delivers almost 50% more battery life in our tests. We saw less than 10 hours of screen time on the Z Flip 5, but we regularly topped 14 hours of use with the Motorola Razr Plus 2024. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has a 4,000mAh cell, and we’ll publish detailed comparisons once we’re done testing Samsung’s latest flip phone. 

The Motorola Razr Plus offers fast 45W charging, but you need to buy a special charger to use the 45W capabilities. There’s no charger included in the box, and if you’re upgrading, especially from an iPhone, your charger probably tops out at 25W or less. It’s worth buying a newer charger, because that fast charging speed can give you extra hours of phone time if you top up in the 10 minutes you spend getting ready for an evening out. 

I had a weird charging glitch with the Razr Plus 2024 as well as my Motorola Razr 2024 review sample. As I was charging the phones, they would frequently wake up and flash the charging percentage on screen, as if I had just plugged in the power cord. They would each do this repeatedly, no matter which USB-C cord I used. 

Even worse, when I put the phones on a wireless Qi2 charger, they did the same thing. The phones still charged, but the display lit up in an annoying way to report their progress every few seconds. 

I was expecting a software update during my two-week review period, but it never arrived. I’m hoping Motorola’s first update for the Razr 2024 family fixes this glitch. 

  • Battery score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Motorola Razr Plus 2024?

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in green

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Razr Plus 2024 score card
AttributesNotesRating
ValueThe Motorola Razr Plus is priced a bit high against its powerful rivals, but wait until the first discounts arrive and it will be a much better value. 3 / 5
DesignWith a better ‘snap’ when opening and shutting, more durability to take a dunk, and an even larger cover display, there’s nothing I don’t like about the improved Razr Plus 2024 design. I even like the new colors. 5 / 5
DisplayIf you aren’t dazzled by that big new cover display, which is much brighter than before, take a look at the humongous internal screen, which extends to 6.9 inches from this pocket-sized wonder. 5 / 5
SoftwareI like Motorola’s light touch with Android and useful gesture controls. I hate some of Motorola’s new Moto AI features, which have the worst tendencies of AI image generation tools. This needs to go, before Motorola starts adding more AI features. 1 / 5
CameraThe cameras are good, with saturated colors and nice lighting, but images lack detail compared to the best camera phones, and photos can seem lifeless when the background blur looks too digital. 3 / 5
PerformanceSolid performance from the new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, but the real benefits seem to be battery life, not raw power. AI features cause serious delays talking to the cloud, if you bother to use them. 3 / 5
BatteryExcellent battery life, much better than Samsung’s last-gen flip phone, probably thanks to the new Snapdragon 8s chipset. Fast charging is nice, but where’s the charger?4 / 5

Buy it if...

You want the coolest-looking phone around
The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 is the coolest phone you can buy right now, with snazzy color options and unbeatable features that show what a flip phone can be in the age of smartphones.

You want two devices in one
The Razr Plus 2024 has such a large cover display that it’s almost like getting two devices – a pocket-sized communicator that opens up to reveal a massive smartphone inside. It’s a totally new experience.

You don’t want the phone everybody else has
The Razr Plus 2024 is drawing iPhone fans away from Apple, according to Motorola, and it’s easy to see why. Motorola does everything Apple won’t, from foldable screens to bright colors to open AI features.

Don't buy it if...

You need a really good camera
The camera on the Motorola Razr Plus has gotten undeniably better, but it still can’t match the best camera phones you can buy, and doesn’t have the lenses and features of other phones in this price range.

You’re worried about bad AI features
The Motorola Razr Plus makes a major misstep with its AI image generator tool that creates stereotyping images and results that feel racist, misogynist, and possibly anti-Semitic. Yes, it’s that bad.

You can wait for a good discount The Motorola Razr Plus 2024 launches at a good price, comparable to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, but Moto put last year’s Razr on a perpetual sale that dropped the price by hundreds. If you can wait, you might save big.

Razr Plus 2024 review: Also consider

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is like a Motorola Razr Plus with more power and less cover screen. Samsung is more conservative with its outer display, but the Z Flip packs more features, and is a professional flip phone, not a party trick.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

Apple iPhone 15 Pro
For the same price as the Razr Plus 2024 you can have an iPhone 15 Pro, which not only has much better cameras, but will also give you Apple’s (hopefully) more refined Apple Intelligence AI features in the next year or so.

Image

Motorola Razr 2024
The base-model Motorola Razr this year has a slower processor, but a much bigger cover display than before, more like last year’s Razr Plus. For the incredibly low price it may be worth suffering the weird AI, and you can get it in orange.

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Motorola Razr Plus 2024Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6Apple iPhone 15 ProMotorola Razr 2024
Price (at launch):$999.99 / £999.99 / AU$1,699$1,099.99 / £1,049 / AU$1,799$999 / £999 / AU$1,849$699.99 / £799 / AU$999
Display(s)6.9-inch inner; 4.0-inch outer6.7-inch inner; 3.4-inch outer6.1 inches6.9-inch inner; 3.6-inch outer
Cameras50MP main; 50MP 2x lens; 32MP selfie50MP main; 12MP ultrawide; 10MP selfie48MP wide, 12MP ultrawide, 12MP 3x zoom; 12MP selfie50MP main; 13MP ultrawide; 32MP selfie
ProcessorSnapdragon 8s Gen 3Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for GalaxyApple A17 ProMediaTek Dimensity 7300X

How I tested the Motorola Razr Plus 2024

I tested the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 for two weeks before starting this review. I received the Razr Plus 2024 and the Razr 2024 together, and I used the Razr Plus as my only smartphone for work purposes. I checked messages, managed my calendar, wrote stories, and edited photos on the display. I also used the phone as a primary personal phone: controlling my smart home devices, playing games, and managing my social life. 

I tested the durability of the phone thoroughly. Every time I opened and closed the phone I did so with deliberate force. I used the phone in the bathtub, and washed it in the sink. I dropped it a few times onto the pavement. It still looks just fine. 

To test the AI features, I used a standard prompt list that I always use with AI image-generation tools to prove that they resort to common stereotypes. I ask every AI tool for the same images, 10 times for each prompt, and sometimes more if results are interesting or inconsistent. I ask for images that test stereotypes on race, religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, socio-economic status, and other criteria. 

I tested the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 with a variety of accessories, including the Pixel Buds Pro earbuds, a Pixel Watch 2, and my Bluetooth car receiver. I used an Xbox One gaming controller, in addition to a variety of charging devices, especially my Anker 737 battery, which can charge the Razr Plus at full speed. 

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First reviewed July 2024

Philip Berne
US Mobiles Editor

Phil Berne is a preeminent voice in consumer electronics reviews, starting more than 20 years ago at eTown.com. Phil has written for Engadget, The Verge, PC Mag, Digital Trends, Slashgear, TechRadar, AndroidCentral, and was Editor-in-Chief of the sadly-defunct infoSync. Phil holds an entirely useful M.A. in Cultural Theory from Carnegie Mellon University. He sang in numerous college a cappella groups.

Phil did a stint at Samsung Mobile, leading reviews for the PR team and writing crisis communications until he left in 2017. He worked at an Apple Store near Boston, MA, at the height of iPod popularity. Phil is certified in Google AI Essentials. He has a High School English teaching license (and years of teaching experience) and is a Red Cross certified Lifeguard. His passion is the democratizing power of mobile technology. Before AI came along he was totally sure the next big thing would be something we wear on our faces.