After taking a brief hiatus from the foldable market, Motorola made a roaring return in 2023 with two new clamshell phones. The Moto Razr+ impressed us with an expansive cover display before Samsung could follow suit, while the standard Moto Razr brought the joys of a portable flip phone to the masses with a shockingly affordable price point.
This year, Motorola is back with successors to both models, as it looks to improve on both phones. The new Moto Razr+ takes its cover display to the next level, packing new features and functionality into a design you won’t feel like you need to open. Meanwhile, the Moto Razr brings everything we loved about last year’s flagship to the same midrange market. No matter which Motorola clamshell you’re interested in, here’s everything you need to know about the new Razr family for 2024.
Motorola’s new Razrs make all the right changes, but I still have concerns
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Motorola Razr (2024): Design and specs
This year’s Moto Razr+ and Moto Razr keep plenty of inspiration from last year’s flagship foldable, while making just enough improvements to qualify as a worthy upgrade. The Razr+ drops the frosted glass black for vegan leather or vegan suede finishes, depending on your color choice, but keep much of the overall look and feel identical. The big change, of course, comes to the front display, which now measures in at four inches and expands over the entire front of the phone. It comes in Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Peach Fuzz, and, for those nostalgic for mid-2000s gadgets, Hot Pink.
Meanwhile, this year’s more affordable Razr effectively adopts the look of last year’s Razr+, with the same 3.6-inch cover screen and matte finish on the frame. It maintains a soft vegan leather finish though, meaning both phones have a unique feel you won’t find outside of Motorola’s lineup. You’ll find it available in Koala Grey, Beach Sand, and Spritz Orange — not quite the same collection of colors as this year’s flagship, but a solid lineup nonetheless.
Both devices sport IPX8 water resistance, and while there’s no official dust rating, Motorola says this year’s upgraded hinge keeps more dust out than ever before. Speaking of, that hinge feels better in practically every way, with a satisfying snap, less flex when open, and a smoother finish along the edges of each respective 6.9-inch screen, regardless of which model you pick.
The big differences come from these devices’ respective internals. The Moto Razr+ (2024) uses a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 — not quite the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 you’ll find in this year’s best Android phones, but certainly an improvement over last year’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Paired with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, that’s a solidly powerful smartphone. Factor in 45W fast-charging, 15W wireless charging, and a 4,000mAh battery, and Motorola has made sure to give nearly every aspect of this phone’s specs sheet a boost over last year’s model.
Meanwhile, the regular Moto Razr swaps out a Qualcomm SoC for MediaTek’s new Dimensity 7300X. Designed with dual screen smartphones in mind, it’s a chipset that should manage to hold its own against other midrange smartphones. Paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, it’s clear where that $300 price difference is coming from. However, this should be more than enough to make all but the pickiest of smartphone users.
Both the Razr+ and Razr feature identical 50MP primary lenses, though only the more powerful device uses Motorola’s AI-powered photo processing that should deliver better performance in both daytime and low-light shots. This year’s Razr+ drops its ultra-wide lens for a 50MP 2x telephoto lens designed primarily for taking improved portrait images, while the regular Razr sports a 13MP ultra-wide for group shots.
Motorola Razr (2024): Software
Both of this year’s Moto Razr models are launching with Android 14, along with promises for three OS upgrades and four years of bi-monthly security patches. Motorola has a lot to prove in timely software updates — as of this year’s Razr announcement, last year’s phones have yet to leave the days of Android 13 behind — so if you’re looking for speedy upgrades, you might be better off looking at the rest of the foldable competition. Still, there’s plenty about this year’s software experience that has us impressed, and it all starts with the cover display.
Motorola has redesigned nearly all of its front screen widgets, making them easier to use or delivering more options like suggested Spotify playlists. Factor in the first-ever always-on display on one of the company’s phones, and there are some seriously great changes here. Let’s just hope those updates start coming sooner rather than later.
Of course, it’s 2024, which means AI is the name of the game. Motorola is pushing forward on its artificial intelligence initiative with this year’s Razr lineup, using it as an excuse to unveil the full scope of its Moto AI ecosystem. At launch, that means Google Gemini support out of the box — the first clamshell flip phone to offer it, complete with the abilty to enter prompts right from the cover screen. Motorola is even giving Razr users Gemini Advanced for three months to help make the most of it, though you’ll have to shell out for the privilege once your trial ends.
Later this year, Moto AI will arrive in earnest, with options for summarizing notifications, activating instant recordings with a single voice command, and capturing on-screen info for later reminders. Unfortunately, these tools aren’t available at launch, and outside of a vague “coming months” window, it’s unclear when that’ll change.
Motorola Razr (2024): Price & release date
Unlike last year, Motorola is launching both of its new flip phones at the exact same time. The Moto Razr+ will go up for pre-order through AT&T, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola’s own website on July 10th, with availability starting on July 24th. Like its predecessor, it’s priced at $1,000.
Meanwhile, the Moto Razr — which took months last year to launch in the US — is arriving at practically the same time. It’ll go up for pre-order exclusively through T-Mobile on July 10th, with unlocked availability through Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola’s web store on July 24th. It’s priced at $700, but if it’s anything like the 2023 model, expect some heavy discounts in the months to follow that make picking up a clamshell foldable even cheaper.
The regular Razr is coming to a bunch of MVNOs on July 25th — just one day after its unlocked availability — including Cricket, Spectrum Mobile, Straight Talk, Total by Verizon, Visible, Google Fi Wireless, Optimum Mobile, and UScellular.
Get ready to flip all over again
Last year’s Moto Razr series delivered some serious competition to Samsung, and this year’s lineup looks to improve on them in some seriously meaningful ways. Whether you’re after a flagship experience or a more affordable device, Motorola has something for everyone — and you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on them.
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Motorola Razr+ (2024)
The Motorola Razr+ (2024) is an impressive flip foldable, featuring high-end internals. With the 2024 variant, Motorola has made one of our favorite flip phones from last year even better, bumping the cover screen size even further, fitting a beefier battery, and improving the cameras.
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Motorola Razr (2024)
The Razr (2024) is Motorola’s affordable flip phone, packing almost all the features you can ask for. It packs a big, usable 3.6-inch cover display, a 6.9-inch pOLED folding screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and a powerful MediaTek DImensity chip.
