Moto Razr vs Galaxy Fold: Who wins the foldable smartphone battle?

In terms of which manufacturer does a better job of accomplishing its objective; we’d have to say Motorola. While the Galaxy Fold is impressive, its 4.6-inch cover display is too small to use as a smartphone when the device is folded. Motorola, on the other hand, accomplishes everything it set out for, the new Razr is a spitting image of its predecessor from yesteryear.

Display 

When unfolded the Moto Razr is no different from a regular smartphone with its 6.2-inch P-OLED with an 876 x 2142 pixels resolution and 373 ppi density. The second 2.7-inch G-OLED display with a 600 x 800 pixels resolution can be utilised when the phone is folded, which is quite brilliant when you consider dropping this phone in your pocket will take up half the space of a regular smartphone.

The Galaxy Fold is more-or-less like a phablet. When unfolded the device packs a 7.3-inch Foldable Dynamic AMOLED screen with a 1536 x 2152 pixels resolution and 362 ppi. The 4.6-inch Super AMOLED display has a 720 x 1680 pixels resolution and a 21:9 aspect ratio. Unlike the Razr, the Fold will likely take up all the space in your pocket. More importantly, though, only the Galaxy Fold gets HDR10+ support.

Deciding, which is the better display for you, depends entirely on your use case. However, when discussing foldable smartphone display, the main factor you want to look out for is ‘crease’. It is inevitable when using soft plastic screens. But because the Razr bends vertically, you get short horizontal crease, which is only as wide as the phone itself – 2.8-inches. The horizontal folding design on the Galaxy Fold spells bad news as the vertical crease extends for 6.3-inches. The crease on the Razr is much-less noticeable than that on the Galaxy Fold. Additionally, Motorola also claims that its hard-plastic coat on top of the electronic elements is sturdier than the Galaxy Fold’s.

Performance

On the performance front, the Galaxy Fold undoubtedly has the edge. The flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC on the Fold will offer double the horsepower than the Snapdragon 710 chipset on the Moto Razr. Additionally, the Galaxy Fold also gets 12GB RAM, double that on the Razr, while Samsung’s UFS 3.0 storage standard also delivers faster read/write speeds.

Cameras

In terms of optics, the Galaxy Fold has a clear upper hand with six cameras over the Razr’s two. Samsung’s foldable smartphone features a primary sensor, an ultrawide lens and a telephoto shooter, and let’s not forget those additional three front-facing cameras. The Moto Razr, on the other hand, only gets one primary camera sensor and another 5-megapixel lens when the Razr flips open, but that’s mainly for video calls when the phone is unfolded. When folded, the Razr’s primary camera doubles as a selfie shooter.

Even if the Razr’s 16-megapixel primary sensor is better than the 12-megapixel main camera on the Fold, and that is one big if, the sheer number of cameras on the Fold offers excellent room for flexibility.

Battery

The battery capacity on the Galaxy Fold is much higher than that of the Razr. However, the Fold has two screens and when used in tablet mode that the second screen has an entire inch on the Moto Razr, not to mention the higher resolution. But even then, a 2,510 mAh battery on the Razr is far too less for a smartphone, especially one with two screens. And, while both devices offer 15W fast-charging, only the Fold supports 15W wireless fast-charging and 9W reverse wireless charging. Additionally, the 7nm Snapdragon 855 SoC offers better battery management and power efficiency than the 10nm Snapdragon 710 chipset on the Razr.

Verdict

Both these phones don’t come cheap, and even though the Moto Razr hasn’t arrived in India, it won’t be nearly as expensive as the Galaxy Fold. But at the end of the day, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is more than just a smartphone, it is the almost perfect balance between a top-tier tablet and premium flagship handset, which is what makes this verdict all the more difficult. Primarily because the Moto Razr isn’t trying to be anything more than a smartphone. On paper, the Moto Razr looks no different from an average mid-range smartphone under 15000 INR. The hefty price tag isn’t merely for a phone that will provide a sense of nostalgia, but a very complex piece of engineering and innovation.