The comeback story of Motorola has been remarkable. Over the last 1-2 years, we have seen how the company has positioned itself strongly in the market through the G and Edge series. Now, the company has unveiled its latest flip phone: Motorola Razr 50 Ultra. The original Razr, launched in 2004, was a cultural icon, and now, Motorola is rekindling that nostalgia while pushing the boundaries of modern smartphone technology.
Priced at ₹99,999 the new Motorola Razr 50 Ultra comes in a bundled pack together with Moto Buds+ and yes, with a fast charger, unlike the other premium flip phone in the market.
Design
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra stays true to its roots with a sleek clamshell design that’s both familiar and futuristic. Motorola has refined the form factor, making it more compact and comfortable to hold. At just 15.32mm thick when closed and featuring a gapless hinge, it’s impressively slim for a foldable device. The phone boasts a premium vegan leather finish, available in trendy colors like Midnight Blue, Peach Fuzz, and Spring Green (Our review variant). This material choice not only adds a touch of luxury but also improves grip and resists stains and fading.
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
A standout feature is the redesigned hinge mechanism. Motorola claims it’s been tested for over 600,000 folds under normal conditions, with 100,000 folds in extreme temperatures. This new hinge design allows for easier one-handed operation, with reduced spring tension for effortless opening and closing. The device is also more durable than its predecessors, boasting an IPX8 rating for water resistance, allowing it to withstand submersion in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes.
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In terms of ports and buttons, Motorola has kept the design clean and functional. The power button, which doubles as a fingerprint sensor, is located on the right side of the device when closed. This allows for easy access, whether the phone is open or closed, and on some occasions, it unnecessarily unlocks the phone too. The volume rocker is positioned just above the power button, maintaining a familiar layout for most users. The SIM tray is placed on the left side, whereas, on the bottom, you will find the Type-C port and the speaker outlet.
Display
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra truly shines in the display department. It features the largest external display, measuring 4 inches with a resolution of 1272 x 1080 pixels. This pOLED panel boasts a 165Hz refresh rate and supports HDR10+, making it the largest and most advanced external display on any flip phone to date. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, ensuring durability for daily use.
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
The main internal display is equally impressive – a 6.9-inch pOLED panel with a 165Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3000 nits. Motorola has addressed the common complaint of display creases in foldable with a larger fold radius that significantly reduces visible creasing. This screen supports 10-bit color, covers 120% of the DCI-P3 color space, and features HDR10+ certification for vibrant, lifelike visuals.
Both displays incorporate various eye protection features, including blue light reduction and DC dimming to minimize flicker. The external display, in particular, offers unprecedented functionality for a flip phone, allowing users to interact with a wide range of apps and features without opening the device.
OS
The Razr 50 Ultra runs on Android 14 with Motorola’s Hello UI overlay. This custom interface is designed to take full advantage of the unique form factor, offering intuitive gestures and optimized experiences for both external and internal displays. Motorola promises three years of OS updates and four years of security patches, ensuring longevity for the device.
The software experience is further enhanced by the integration of Google’s Gemini AI, accessible directly from the external display – a first for flip phones. This AI assistant can help with various tasks, from writing and planning to learning and image creation, all without needing to open the phone.
Processor and Performance
The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, a high-end but not top-tier processor in Qualcomm’s lineup. This octa-core SoC is built on a 4nm process, offering a good balance of performance and energy efficiency. It’s paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, providing ample memory for multitasking and fast data access.
While the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a capable processor, it’s worth noting that it’s not Qualcomm’s flagship offering. The same chipset can be found in more affordable devices like the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, and similar performance can be achieved by phones in the 30K segment, such as Realme GT 6. This positioning might disappoint some users expecting absolute top-tier performance in a premium foldable device.
In benchmark tests, the Razr 50 Ultra’s performance is solid but not class-leading. The phone managed a score of 1894 for its single-core processor and 4455 for multicore performance. In the GPU test, it recorded an impressive figure of 9037. However, these figures are close to what we’ve seen on more affordable devices like the Realme GT 6, and to be frank, they’re a bit low for a premium device in this category.
That being said, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is no slouch. It delivers smooth performance for everyday tasks, app switching, and even demanding applications. The chipset’s GPU, the Adreno 735, provides solid graphics performance for mobile gaming. While it may not match the peak performance of the top-tier Adreno GPUs, it’s capable of running most modern mobile games at high settings with stable frame rates. The gaming experience on the Razr 50 Ultra is enhanced by the 165Hz refresh rate display, which provides smooth visuals and responsive touch input.
The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 features Qualcomm’s AI Engine, which is leveraged throughout the user experience. Motorola has implemented several AI-powered features like Style Sync, Magic Canvas, AI Photo Enhancement, AI Adaptive Stabilization, and Google Gemini Integration that showcase the chipset’s capabilities.
The Razr 50 Ultra also features Smart Connect, a suite of productivity features that allow for seamless integration with PCs and tablets. This includes file sharing, app streaming, and cross-device control, all of which benefit from the chipset’s processing power and AI capabilities for smooth, intuitive interactions.
In terms of thermal management, the Razr 50 Ultra appears to handle heat well during extended use or gaming sessions, thanks to the efficient 4nm process of the chipset and Motorola’s thermal design. However, as with many foldables, the compact form factor may lead to more noticeable warmth during intense tasks compared to traditional slab-style smartphones.
Camera
The camera system on the Razr 50 Ultra truly shines. Motorola has clearly invested heavily in this aspect, and it shows in both the hardware and software implementation. The phone features a 50MP main sensor, boasting a large 1/1.95” size and a bright f/1.79 aperture. This combination promises excellent light-gathering capabilities, crucial for low-light performance. The inclusion of optical image stabilization (OIS) and all-pixel autofocus further enhances its versatility, allowing for crisp, clear shots in various conditions.
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
Complementing the main sensor is a 50MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom. This addition is particularly noteworthy, as it enables the razr50 Ultra to capture high-quality portrait shots with natural background blur. The telephoto lens also provides more flattering perspectives for portraits compared to wide-angle lenses, avoiding the facial distortion often seen in close-up shots from primary cameras.
Moto Razr 50 Ultra camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
For selfies, users have two excellent options. There’s a capable 32MP front-facing camera, but the real magic happens when you use the main rear cameras for self-portraits. The large 4.0-inch external display serves as a viewfinder, allowing subjects to see exactly how they’ll appear in the shot. This feature is not just a gimmick; it’s a game-changer for self-portraits and group shots, giving everyone involved the ability to perfect their pose and expression before the shot is taken.
Motorola has implemented a suite of AI-powered camera features that significantly enhance the Razr 50 Ultra’s imaging capabilities. The AI Photo Enhancement Engine dynamically adjusts image parameters, resulting in photos with improved dynamic range, reduced noise, and vibrant colors that retain detail in both highlights and shadows. For video enthusiasts, the AI Adaptive Stabilization analyzes motion in real time to deliver shake-free footage, which is particularly impressive when recording while walking or in low-light conditions. Complementing this, the AI Auto Focus Tracking keeps moving subjects sharply in focus during video recording, making it ideal for capturing active scenes or sports. Lastly, the AI Action Shot feature ensures blur-free captures of moving subjects in still photography by intelligently adjusting shutter speed and processing. These AI-driven enhancements work seamlessly together to elevate the overall camera experience, allowing users to capture high-quality images and videos in a wide range of scenarios with minimal effort.
The portrait mode on the Razr 50 Ultra deserves special mention. Leveraging both the telephoto lens and AI processing, it produces stunningly realistic bokeh effects. The edge detection is impressively accurate, even with challenging subjects like hair or glasses, and the level of background blur can be adjusted both before and after taking the shot.
In practice, the Razr 50 Ultra’s camera performance is impressive across various lighting conditions. Daylight shots exhibit excellent detail, natural colors, and a wide dynamic range. The night mode is particularly noteworthy, using the large main sensor and AI processing to produce clear, low-noise images even in challenging low-light scenarios.
Moto Razr 50 Ultra camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
The camera app itself is intuitive and feature-rich, offering various creative modes that encourage experimentation. The advanced long exposure mode, for instance, allows for artistic light trail shots or silky-smooth water effects. The tilt-shift mode can create a miniature effect, making scenes appear like small-scale models.
Integration with Google Photos AI features further enhances the camera experience. Magic Eraser is surprisingly effective at removing unwanted objects or people from photos, while Photo Unblur can salvage shots that might otherwise be unusable due to slight motion blur. The Magic Editor takes things a step further, allowing for AI-powered photo manipulation that can dramatically alter the composition or lighting of an image.
Battery
Despite its compact form factor, the Razr 50 Ultra houses a respectable 4,000mAh battery. This capacity, combined with the efficient Snapdragon chipset and variable refresh rate displays, should provide all-day battery life for most users. Charging is another plus point of the phone. It comes with a 45W TurboPower wired charging for quick top-ups. The device also supports 15W wireless charging and offers 5W reverse wireless charging, allowing it to power up other devices in a pinch.
Verdict
If you want a flip phone, then the new Motorola Razr 50 Ultra can be your go-to option. It checks nearly all the boxes for a premium device, offering a stunning 4-inch external display, a creaseless 6.9-inch internal screen, impressive camera capabilities with AI enhancements, and a durable design with IPX8 water resistance. The integration of Google’s Gemini AI and the versatile use of the external display for various functions add significant value. Not to forget, it comes with a charger and earbuds.
However, the choice of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, while capable, is somewhat disheartening for a device in this premium segment – an issue we also noted in our review of the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra.
Despite this, for most users, the Razr 50 Ultra’s blend of nostalgia, innovation, and functionality makes it a strong contender in the foldable market, especially for those prioritising style and camera performance over absolute top-tier processing power.
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