Samsung's $1,380 Galaxy Z Flip is without a doubt a better foldable smartphone than Motorola's $1,500 Razr for 8 big reasons
The Galaxy Z Flip comes with far better specs than the new Motorola Razr.
Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip runs on a better and more recent chip called the Snapdragon 855 Plus compared to the upper-mid-range Snapdragon 710 in the Motorola Razr.
The Galaxy Z Flip also comes standard with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage compared to the Motorola Razr's 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.
It's true that even a solid performer like the Snapdragon 710 with 6 GB of RAM would work just fine for most people to run the Android operating system and your favorite apps, but when the Galaxy Z Flip runs on better specs overall for a lower price, it's hard to make excuses for the new Razr.
The Galaxy Z Flip has a larger and sharper screen than the Motorola Razr.
The Galaxy Z Flip's 6.7-inch screen makes the new Razr's 6.2-inch screen less impressive, especially when you consider that the Galaxy Z Flip is a smaller phone overall, both when it's folded and unfolded.
To top it off, the Galaxy Z Flip's screen has a higher resolution that should make for sharper visuals than the Razr's screen.
Out of the box, the Motorola Razr runs on an two-year-old version of Android while Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip runs on the current version of Android.
It's truly perplexing that Motorola is shipping the new Razr with Android 9 (Pie), which was released in 2018, rather than the current version of Android 10.
In many respects, it doesn't really matter. Android 9 should work just fine, as long as Google and Motorola support the Razr with security updates during the device's lifetime. Still, Android 10 brought some significant privacy and security control settings, new gesture controls, and the highly requested system-wide dark-mode.
Again, it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's something that raises eyebrows.
The Galaxy Z Flip's screen can stay in place at different angles, whereas the Motorola Razr only has two positions: open and closed.
You can prop the Galaxy Z Flip's screen at different angles, which gives you more options on how to use phone. One good example is resting the Galaxy Z Flip on a table and propping up the screen to take a video call without holding it. Or you can prop the Galaxy Z Flip to take time-lapse photos or regular photos without any risk of shaking from your hands.
It's not a massive game-changer, but it's a nice feature that the new Razr doesn't have.
Both phones have dual-lens cameras, but the Galaxy Z Flip lets you do more than the Razr's camera.
The Galaxy Z Flip has a regular 12-megapixel camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide, whereas the new Razr has a 16-megapixel regular camera. The other lens on the new Razr is simply a depth sensor that doesn't take photos, but is designed to deliver better portrait mode shots.
At the end of the day, whether someone prefers ultra-wide photos or better portrait mode photos is up to the user. Subjectively, I'd prefer to have the option to take ultra-wide photos over better portrait mode photos. Portrait mode is something that can be decently faked with software, whereas ultra-wide photos can't be faked with software.
The Galaxy Z Flip has a significantly better selfie camera than the Motorola Razr.
It was somewhat shocking to see that the new Motorola Razr has a mere 5-megapixel selfie camera, especially compared to the Galaxy Z Flip's 8-megapixel selfie camera.
In today's smartphone environment, 5 megapixels is pretty darn low, and not something anyone would expect on a $1,500 smartphone. I'd also expect more than 8 megapixels for the Galaxy Z Flip's $1,380 price tag, but at least it's better than what you get on the Motorola Razr.
The Motorola Razr has a worryingly small battery compared to the Galaxy Z Flip's battery.
At only 2,510mAh, the Motorola Razr's battery is small by modern Android smartphone standards. The Galaxy Z Flip has a much larger 3,300mAh battery that's more in-line with battery expectations for a smartphone released in 2020.
And combine everything above with the Galaxy Z Flip's cheaper price tag, and it's tough to even consider the Motorola Razr.
The only major thing going for the Motorola Razr is its classic nostalgic design. Apart from that, there's little reason for anyone to look at the Razr when the Galaxy Z Flip offers so much more for over $100 less.
With all that being said, neither the Galaxy Z Flip or the Motorola Razr come highly recommended, as smartphone makers haven't figured out how to make folding screens that are as durable as regular smartphones.
Both the Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola Razr are mired in controversy over the fragility of their screens.
Samsung touted that the Galaxy Z Flip has an "ultra-thin glass" screen that initially suggested better durability against scratches. Yet, a recent test by gadget-destroyer Zack Nelson of the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel showed that the Galaxy Z Flip's screen is no more durable than the fragile plastic screen on the Samsung Galaxy Fold. In a sentence, the Galaxy Z Flip's screen scratches very easily:
Also recently, the protective plastic coating on one reviewer's Motorola Razr started to peel off the screen at the fold in the middle. It's only one indication that the Motorola Razr's foldable screen might be prone to issues, but foldable smartphone screens have a very poor record so far.
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