We’re only in January, but I’m confident in saying the Moto Razr Fold has to be one of the year’s most anticipated smartphones.
Motorola’s take on the book-style foldable smartphone is a latecomer to the party, but we have high hopes it’ll be a strong addition to Motorola’s roster.
But I’m hoping it’ll be more than just strong. I’m hoping that it’s the phone that takes Motorola back to its place atop the mountain.
As long as the company plays this opportunity correctly, it could well be.
From prince to pauper
While Motorola hasn’t bitten the dust like previous kings HTC and LG, I’d struggle to say it’s been in a good place in the last decade.
Don’t get me wrong, the Moto G phones are solid budget offerings, and while they’re not the instant buys they used to be, if you wanted a cheap phone, they’re still in the pool of consideration for many.
The same can’t be said for the company’s Edge phones. The so-called flagship phones have varied heavily in quality, but regardless, they tend not to be smash hits by most metrics.
A confusing naming structure hasn’t helped, and the newly renamed Motorola Signature may help.
But there’s one area where Motorola has been knocking it out of the park, and it’s the Moto Razr.
Far more than just a callback to a beloved flip phone line, the new Moto Razr phones are genuinely excellent smartphones in their own right, and have a popularity to match.
And they show that Motorola has a future — if it can grab hold of it.
We have no king of the foldables
Foldables have been here for so long that it’s easy to forget that they represent an entirely new era for smartphones, and new eras can mean upheavals.
The current era of smartphones has been defined by a back-and-forth between Samsung and Apple, with the pair’s phones being the dominant forces throughout the market, at least in much of the West.
Google, OnePlus, and Motorola live on the edges of the market, while Huawei and other brands tend to dominate in the East and other markets.
That’s a whole topic in itself, but the point here is that these eras don’t last forever. The advent of foldable phones, while slow, contains an opportunity to topple the current power dynamic.
As befits the head of the table, Samsung got an early start on foldable phones, but it squandered its lead, and other brands have quickly caught up with it.
Google and OnePlus have both released excellent book folds that rival the Z Fold, and while it doesn’t look like the OnePlus Open 2 is coming, it still shows Samsung hasn’t really grabbed the opportunity in book folds.
It’s a similar story with flip phones.
Samsung got an early start, but it’s easy to argue Motorola’s Razr has won the battle there.
Motorola has successively innovated the form factor ahead of Samsung, and that means the Moto Razr usually sits atop the flip phone category as the phone to buy.
Now Motorola turns its sights to book folds. Book folds are a new battleground with more competition, but the company has already shown it has what it takes to win here.
And if it does, it’s potentially on the cusp of winning back its status as a phone king.
I hope I’m not overstating it, but I do think the Moto Razr Fold could kickstart a whole new era for Motorola — but it needs to get a few things right.
The price is going to be crucial — in more ways than one
It’s the price. It was always going to be the price. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it.
It’s difficult to write about this, because my colleague Stephen Radochia already did, and did it extremely well.
But Motorola’s success with this phone really does hinge on the price, so I can’t avoid that.
The current rumors say the Moto Razr Fold will come in at $1,500, which is a good price for it. It’s less than its competitors, which tend to hover around a staggering $2,000 — but Motorola could absolutely do better.
It’s likely Motorola will already be toning down the Razr Fold’s specs to reach a lower price point, but I’m interested in knowing if it can go even lower.
I’m not even sure if this is really possible with the demands of book fold phones, but if Motorola could push the price even lower, closer to $1,000, I would wager it could win a huge amount of loyalty from new foldable fans.
The market is crying out for a midrange book fold phone, and Motorola is exactly the company that could offer it.
It has a lot of experience making great phones at the lower end of the market, and heck, it’s already done it. Motorola already offers a lower-priced, lower-powered version of the Motorola Razr.
The major reason I can see them not going for this is simply a lack of experience making book folds — and they’re unlikely to do it in 2026.
But in 2027? I really hope Motorola will put out a midrange Razr Fold, win a lot of fans, and set itself up as the Foldable King.
