Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 launch live blog: review, camera comparisons, deals, and more

OK, so you're interested in the Razr Ultra (2025) but did a double-take when you saw the $1,299 price, right? Thankfully, Motorola has two other models available that are more in budget, especially with some of the great Motorola Razr 2025 deals going on right now.

If you're a T-Mobile user, the base Razr 2025 is FREE with an eligible unlimited plan. You can't get any better than free, and it's hard to go wrong with T-Mobile's unlimited plan pricing, speed, and coverage, too!

And hey, if you're looking for a little more power but still want a great deal and something totally unique, Best Buy has the Razr (2025) and the Razr Plus (2025) for up to $500 off when you trade in, plus free Clicks keyboard case ($135 value). If you somehow haven't seen the Clicks keyboard case for the Razr, you owe it to yourself to consider getting one!

Motorola's Razr cover screen has always been immensely more useful than Samsung's, and while we haven't seen any leaks or rumors pointing to a change, there's always the chance Samsung listens to user feedback and gives the Z Flip 7's cover screen a full overhaul.

If it doesn't, though, know that Motorola makes it dead easy to use most apps on the cover screen compared to Samsung's very limited, widget-based cover screen. If you haven't used a flip phone lately, you'll be surprised at how useful the smaller cover screen is and how often you'll end up using it instead of flipping open that big screen.

Looking to upgrade to the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025), but aren't sure if you should wait until Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 7 gets announced? While we can't guarantee Samsung won't make something better, there are a few things to consider.

Both the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) will most certainly be using the same Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. There won't be a better processor available in 2025, and there's no reason to think Samsung will use something less powerful. But while processing power is the same, Motorola's battery tech is much better than Samsung's.

Not only is the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) battery already good, but it supports 68W wired charging so you can get a quick top-up in a few minutes before you walk out the door. Meanwhile, no rumors point to the possibility that Samsung will offer faster charging on the Flip 7 than it did on the Flip 6. For note, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 charges at a paltry 25W rate, taking well over an hour to fully charge.

Motorola's camera game has improved tenfold over the company's older phones, and a lot of that has to do with the inclusion of smarter software. This year, Motorola is doubling down on the inclusion of AI-powered camera tricks, including its own version of the Google Pixel's Best Take. Motorola's feature is called Group Shot, and it ensures that everyone's face looks its best when you take a bunch of photos at a time.

The key here is not only to have everyone together in a photo, but to take a handful of photos each time you open the camera. After that, the back end does most of the work, making suggestions on a new best group photo for you to use.

Motorola is also improving its motion capture game with a new Action Shot mode that prioritizes moving subjects and does its best to ensure they're captured without blur. Your results may vary, but it's a big step in the right direction for a company that has historically struggled with camera quality.

While we're on the subject of Moto AI, let's talk about the new AI-generated content the Razr Ultra 2025 allows you to make. Playlist Studio is easily one of the more creative AI-generated features we've seen on any phone, as it lets you ask for a playlist based on basically anything.

Android Authority's Ryan Haines asked for something as ridiculous as "Y2K pizza party jams" and Moto AI spit out a playlist with artists like Nelly, Beyonce, and several others that fit the bill for the era.

Playlist Studio currently uses Amazon Music as the backend for delivering songs, but don't worry, you don't need an Amazon Prime subscription to use it! Just make sure you've got an Amazon Music free account and you're good to go.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by notifications these days, as every app is vying for your attention and seems to think a plethora of notifications is the only way to hold it. Motorola thought of this and designed a way to help cut down on the problem by introducing AI-powered notification summaries.

As you can see from the photo above, Moto AI will give you brief snippets of what's happening in each conversation, complete with quick action buttons that you can tap. Whether this is just marking the message as read and making it go away, or tapping an automatic response to make it seem like you're paying attention, is totally up to you.

We'll likely see a similar feature come to Android 16 more widely, but for now, Motorola has the monopoly on the concept on the Android side of things. Apple introduced a similar feature in iOS 18 last year, but it infamously does a terrible job of summarizing things. Whether Moto AI does any better of a job for you is probably up in the air, but it's been a cool feature to play around with so far, nonetheless.

It can be rather overwhelming if you're trying to decide whether it's worth upgrading to a new phone. Motorola didn't do much to help make things easy with its 2025 lineup, as all three models are great in their own way.

The only obvious upgrade should be if you already have the Razr Plus 2023, as these new models blow it out of the water. AC Contributor Brady Snyder takes a deeper look at making such a decision, providing reasons for upgrading regardless of whether you have an existing Razr or if you might be looking beyond the confines of Samsung's ecosystem.

Battery life is another sore subject for foldable phones, as there's even less room in the chassis compared to standard "slab" phones. The Razr Ultra 2025 performs admirably, as Derrek has had "no complaints with battery life," stating that "You'll get a full day of use" with relative ease.

Not only that, but Motorola didn't hold back with charging rates, as the Razr Ultra 2025 enjoys up to 68W speeds when using a cable. Wireless charging also gets a boost, as it tops out at 30W charging speeds, both of which are quite welcome.

The only "catch" here is that Motorola doesn't include a charger in the box. On the bright side, there is no shortage of great options out there, and we wouldn't be surprised if you didn't already have one at home.

One area of concern for anyone considering a foldable phone is durability. There are plenty of horror stories about someone waking up and opening their phone, only to be greeted with a broken screen. For the most part, it seems those days are largely behind us, as the hardware has been improved.

However, another aspect of that is water and dust resistance, with many foldable phones not being able to withstand the elements very well. Thankfully, that shouldn't be too much of an issue with the Razr Ultra 2025, as it features an IP48 rating.

The key here is the first digit, with the "4" essentially meaning that the phone is protected from dust wreaking havoc. But we still wouldn't recommend taking this with you to the beach. On the other hand, the "8" signifies that the Razr Ultra 2025 is capable of being submerged in up to almost 5 feet of water (or 1.5 meters), for up to 30 minutes.

While Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip might be more mainstream, we really have Motorola to thank for making the cover screen actually usable. The Razr Plus 2024 made it possible to use any app that you wanted, and the Razr Ultra 2025 takes things further by letting you set up multiple pages full of apps, widgets, and other various shortcuts.

Derrek says this "remains one of my favorite ways to use the Razr." Meanwhile, Patrick Holland of CNET exclaims they "feel like the coolest kid in the coffee shop when Google Pay-ing for my cortado with my Razr Ultra closed."

The lack of a useful cover screen was one of the reasons why I ended up gravitating back to book-style foldable phones. But after reading Derrek's review and seeing what others have said, I might just find a way to take the Razr Ultra 2025 for a spin myself.

Are you already intrigued by what the Razr Ultra offers and want to know if there are any deals out there? Well, as it just so happens, there are actually a bunch of ways for you to get one of these fancy new foldables for yourself, saving hundreds in the process.

• AT&T: Get the Razr Ultra 2025 for FREE when trading in your old phone.
• Best Buy: Save up to $600 with a trade-in, PLUS, get a Clicks Keyboard for FREE!
• Motorola: Save $200 and get 1TB of storage for the price of the 512GB Ultra.
• T-Mobile: Save up to $1,000 on the Razr Ultra, either when adding a new line or upgrading a current line and trading in your old phone.

But what if you don't need the most powerful Moto Razr? Well, there are some deals out there for you too, such as getting the Razr+ 2025 for $8.99 per month from AT&T, while Total Wireless by Verizon is giving away the regular Moto Razr 2025 for free when you transfer your number from your current carrier. Even Cricket Wireless is getting in on the fun, as the carrier is offering the Razr 2025 for just $299.99 when either transferring your number or activating a new line of service.

One area of concern that some might have is the camera system that Motorola employs. Although previous iterations haven't been terrible, they also haven't quite matched up to the rest of the competition. Seeing as the Razr Ultra is a flagship device, Motorola turned things up a notch, as evidenced by its "collaboration" with Pantone.

As a reminder, the Razr Ultra 2025 is equipped with two rear cameras, utilizing a 50MP main lens and a 50MP ultrawide sensor. Derrek points out that the colors from pictures taken with the main lens "feel much punchier," which they attribute to the aforementioned Pantone collaboration.

This sentiment regarding the main camera is largely echoed by Max Buondonno of The Shortcut, as he says "The result is photos that look more true to life than any other Razr in the past."

The AI fun doesn't stop there, however, as features such as Image Studio and Playlist Studio are offered as a way to let your imagination run wild with the help of AI. As pointed out by The Verge, other AI-powered features are also onboard, such as "Remember This" which saves "screenshots, text, and photos so you can ask about them later." It sounds a lot like the Pixel Screenshots app, without being limited to just screenshots.

However, The Verge goes on to say that it's not quite "as useful in a personal assistant," with Moto AI being "a little slow to respond to a query since part of it runs in the cloud." One can only hope that this is just a case of growing pains, and that the speed and performance will improve as more people begin using these features.

It wouldn't be a new phone launch in 2025 if AI weren't involved in some form, and that remains true with the Razr Ultra. Motorola introduced quite a few improvements to its own Moto AI, such as "Look & Talk." This allows you to simply start interacting with Moto AI whenever the Ultra is in "Tent or Stand mode," as you just have to "look at it, and begin listening to you."

Unlike what we've seen from the most recent crop of Galaxy phones, AI implementation on the Razr Ultra takes a different approach. While we have Moto AI and Google Gemini, Motorola is also making other AI services available, such as Meta AI, Copilot, and even Perplexity. Of those three, Motorola is putting Perplexity first, as you'll get a free Perplexity Pro trial with every purchase.

Something else that came as a surprise when reading Derrek's review was that Motorola has included "Flicker prevention for users with PWM sensitivity." This is something that our colleague Nick Sutrich has to contend with when using different phones, with some being better than others. I'd really be interested to see how Nick would fare with using the Razr Ultra, but I also know he's more than happy with the OnePlus 13.

By all accounts, the pOLED displays that Motorola is using for the Razr Ultra look beautiful, and I was even surprised to see that the main screen offers a 165Hz refresh rate. It really seems like Motorola is taking the fight to Samsung, as we suspect the Galaxy Z Flip 7 will be hitting the market sometime in the next few months.

Android Central Managing Editor, Derrek Lee, has been using the Razr Ultra for the past week, and so far, he seems to be enjoying it quite a bit. Starting off with the design, Derrek points out that Motorola has been able to retain its "unique styling with vegan leather, Alcantara, and wood finishes."

Those finishes paired with the brushed metal frame look simply stunning, and are frankly, sorely needed in a sea of phones plagued by a lack of imagination. It's very reminiscent of the old Moto Maker days, I just kind of wish we could mix and match or have some type of control over the combinations.

Motorola's latest foldable phones have arrived, headlined by the Moto Razr Ultra. This is a true flagship in every sense of the word, as we have the Snapdragon 8 Elite at the helm, paired with 16GB of RAM and either 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Of course, the star of the show is the 7-inch foldable pOLED display, with its 165Hz refresh rate and ability to reach up to 4,500 nits of peak brightness. But that's not all, as the 4.5-inch pOLED cover screen gets even better with the ability to add app shortcuts, along with panels for different apps and widgets.