My Pixel 10 is a normal-sized slab, and I would be happier with something smaller in my pocket.
On the flip side (pun intended), flip phones go too far in the other direction, because they fold into a tiny square I would have to open for almost everything.
Motorola teased its first wide foldable in September, and the leaked Motorola wide foldable specs suggest it ends up between those two sizes. The phone, internally called the Razr Flex, is reportedly due around mid-December.
The leak doesn’t say what the price will be, but I can estimate it from the hardware. If Motorola keeps it at $1,499 or less, the Razr Flex could replace my Google Pixel 10.
A flip phone folds too small for how I use my phone
The cover screen is the problem
Motorola’s Razr Ultra 2026 folds down to 88.1mm tall, which is about as pocketable as a modern phone gets.
Its cover screen is 4 inches at 1272 x 1080, which makes it nearly square.
That screen handles notifications and quick replies, but most apps feel cramped in a square. I would open the phone for anything longer than a quick glance, so I’d spend most of my day on the larger inner screen.
What I want is a phone that I can use closed for most tasks, but that still takes up less space than a standard brick.
The Razr Flex fits between a flip and my Pixel 10
Shorter than a slab, thinner than a flip
The Razr Flex reportedly measures 110 x 76 x 12.6mm folded and weighs 215 grams. That makes it about 22mm taller than the Razr Ultra and about 43mm shorter than my 152.8mm-tall Pixel 10.
It would also be thinner when closed than Motorola’s flip, which measures 15.7mm folded. Reports suggest it would be shorter and narrower than the Galaxy Z Fold 8.
Its 4.97-inch cover screen is reportedly 1736 x 1140, which is a regular phone shape instead of a square. At that size, I could text, check maps, and answer emails without opening the phone.
However, the Flex weighs 11 grams more than my Pixel 10 and is 4mm thicker. So its advantage is height and pocket space, not weight.
I used a Samsung Galaxy S21+ for a long time before it was damaged, and I’ve always preferred its 6.7-inch screen to my Pixel 10’s 6.3-inch display.
The Flex reportedly opens to a 6.92-inch inner OLED screen with a 2364 x 1728 resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate.
The difference is shape, because the Flex screen is much more square than the tall S21+ display. Landscape videos should fill more of the screen, and web pages should read more like they do on a small tablet.
What I would give up for the Razr Flex
The camera costs the most
Leaving the Pixel 10 means losing its 5x telephoto camera. The Flex reportedly has only a 50MP main camera and a 50MP ultrawide.
I’ve never been a camera person (10 photos in a year is already a lot), so this doesn’t sting too much.
The Pixel 10 is also rated IP68, while the Flex is reportedly rated IP48 and IP49, but this is the same rating as the Galaxy Z Fold 8.
Compared to the Fold 8, the Flex has a smaller inner screen and a reportedly thicker body. Samsung’s phone has a 7.6-inch inner display and measures 9.7mm thick when folded.
Reports also disagree on the chip. Android Headlines says the Flex uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 from the Razr Fold, while GSMArena lists the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Why $1,499 is my limit for the Razr Flex
Anything more favors the Fold 8
I don’t expect Motorola to price the Flex below the Razr Ultra 2026, which costs $1,499 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
The Flex reportedly ships with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, so matching the Ultra’s price is realistic.
Memory costs have also pushed phone prices up this year, so I won’t be expecting a bargain. At $1,499, the Flex would cost $400 less than both the Fold 8 and Motorola’s $1,899 book-style Razr Fold.
If the Flex costs more than $1,499, the gap to the Fold 8 becomes small enough that Samsung’s bigger screen and thinner body just make more sense.
I’ve been trying to ditch Samsung after losing three phones to the same class of screen issues. So if I break a foldable, I’d be happier losing $1,499 than $1,899.
Where the Razr Flex fits in my next upgrade
Motorola hasn’t confirmed the name, the specs, or the December launch, and the cover screen is the detail I most want to see in person.
A usable cover screen is what separates the Flex from a flip, so a weak one would rule it out at any price.
If the price lands closer to $1,899, I’d weigh the Fold 8 against the Razr Fold instead, two phones that were hard to separate in a side-by-side comparison.
At that price, a smaller body alone would not justify picking the Flex over either of them.