Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023

Motorola has improved greatly on its popular Razr Plus foldable phone with a new version that boasts tons of enhancements in AI, design, specs, and more. If you’re considering buying the new phone as an upgrade or looking to compare both to decide which one to buy, we’re here to help. Looking at the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023, here’s what you need to know.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023: The design and basics

First, let’s consider the design and basics of these two phones. 

The Motorola Razr Plus 2024, which will be available starting July 10, 2024, has a 6.9-inch FHD+ pOLED 2,640 x 1,080 main foldable screen with HDR 10+. In his hands-on, Android Central’s Derrek Lee said the screen is brighter and more vibrant. The smaller external display once folded is the largest you’ll find in a foldable device to date at 4 inches, boasting 1,272 x 1,080 resolution, and covering almost the entire front of the phone once folded. The larger inner screen offers a 165Hz refresh rate and 3,000 nits brightness while the smaller external display offers the same refresh rate at 2,400 nits peak brightness.

Available in Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Peach Fuzz (the Pantone Color of the Year), and a Hot Pink throwback to the original Razr, the phone has a soft vegan leather back with contoured edges. Lee said that beyond the bigger external screen and new colors, the phone looks nearly identical to its predecessor, with the same curvaceous frame. The cameras, however, do protrude more from the bottom corner.

The screen is made of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and the phone is submersible in up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes, making it quite durable. However, it does not have a dust resistance rating, which you’ll want to keep in mind when using it while out and about.

The hinge has been improved with a simplified design that not only offers good dust protection for this part of the device, but it’s also easier to flick open or snap shut with one hand. Lee said it feels smaller but sturdier, holding the phone nicely in place at various angles. It offers a wide range of Flex View positions, allowing for hands-free photo capture along with a shake-free camcorder mode that’s optimized for social media.

With a 4,000mAh battery, the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 supports 45W TurboPower charging (charger sold separately), 15W wireless charging (charger sold separately), as well as 5W reverse charging. It has 256GB built-in storage, dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Sound (along with Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound 4), and three microphones.

Offering USB-C charging, it also includes Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi, 5G, NFC, a fingerprint reader, lock screen, and more.

Comparatively, the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, which launched in summer 2023, has the same 6.9-inch internal pOLED screen with the same 2,640 x 1,080 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate. But it taps out at 1,400 nits brightness. The external screen is smaller at 3.6 inches in size and offers a lesser 1,066 x 1,056 resolution with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1,100 nits brightness.

If you’re going to be using the external screen a lot, you’ll find it much more pleasurable with the new phone versus this older one. In his review last year, Lee said the 1,400 nits isn’t enough in direct sunlight, and he’d often find himself struggling to see the display.

The Motorola Razr Plus 2023 comes in Infinite Black, Glacier Blue, and Viva Magenta with the same faux leather back on the latter option that Lee said adds a nice texture to the phone. The Gorilla Glass Victus screen is just as durable but this phone only meets an IP52 rating. You won’t get the same level of intelligent personalization, but there are lots of wallpapers from which to choose, along with lock screens and clock styles.

The flex mode adjusts the angle of some apps, like YouTube, to take advantage of the phone if it’s sitting at a different angle. With Ready For support, you can connect the phone to a compatible PC to cast the display to the bigger screen without the need for wires.

The hinge is a big difference here since it was difficult to open and close the phone with one hand with the Motorola Razr Plus 2023. “It’s not as easy as I’d like” one-handed, said Lee, “but it’s not impossible.” He did find closing the phone, however, to be quite smooth. Considering that’s one of the big draws with a foldable phone, it’s a major upgrade that Motorola has improved on one-handed opening and closing with the Motorola Razr Plus 2024.

The older phone has a smaller battery as well at 3,800mAh and supports slower charging at 30W wired or 5W wireless. For power users, this is a significant upgrade with the new phone. Lee said battery life isn’t great with the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, with the phone struggling to get through a full day on a charge. With stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos and three mics, you will get a favorable audio experience with this phone. It also has the same 256GB storage. 

Along with USB-C charging, you get the older (but still good) Bluetooth 5.3 spec, Wi-Fi, 5G, fingerprint sensor, face unlock, and other similar features. Motorola promised three OS updates with the Motorola Razr Plus 2023 and four years of bi-monthly security updates. The new Motorola Razr Plus 2024, it should be noted, offers the same.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023: The specs

Let’s see how the core specs break down for these two phones.

There are some notable differences between these phones, mostly in the exterior screen size, resolution, and refresh rate, cameras, RAM, and processor as well as durability.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023: Features and functions

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. What is it about the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 that makes it a worthwhile upgrade from the Razr Plus 2023, or the better option to buy between the two, if that is what you’re pondering?

First off, the new phone adds access to the Google Gemini app right from the external display: all you need to do is press and hold the power button. A Gemini Advanced subscription is included for three months, which includes access to Google Gemini in apps like Gmail and Docs along with 2TB of cloud storage. You can also access Google Photos right from the external display.

The panels are improved: they’re more fluid to use with animations as you swipe. There’s also the option to pinch to zoom out and view all at once, and more app choices, like Google Messages that can take up the entire cover screen. 

You can change the Desk Display to show your own selection of text and images, effectively creating your own modern screensaver. With moto ai, you can use Style Sync, a neat feature that develops wallpaper options based on your outfit. With Magic Canvas, meanwhile, you can generate images based on simple and descriptive text prompts.

Equipped with a powerful Snapdragon 8S Gen 3 mobile processor and Hello UX software along with 12GB RAM, the phone comes with Android 14. Moto ai offers enhanced experience features leveraging generative AI. While not available out of the gate, there are some new features coming to the phone in a few months. 

Catch me up will provide a prioritized summary of your personal communications so you don’t have to sift through notifications. Pay attention enables instant recordings of conversations or speakers, then transcribes and summarizes them. Remember this, meanwhile, can capture live moments or on-screen information so you can easily recall it later. You can also access moto ai with virtually any app or function on the phone, getting suggestions, answers to questions, guidance on how to use the phone, and more, all powered by Gemini from Google Cloud.

While you won’t find all the same Google Gemini integration and features with the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, it does have some interesting features. There are panels you can arrange for the external screen as well, including apps for things like weather, a calendar, contacts, games, news, music, and more. But you won’t find as many and they don’t work as fluidly.

Nonetheless, you can still easily access a selection of apps and even use them without having to open the phone. Lee said he absolutely loved using the outer display and access to the apps, finding it very responsive. But the experience is presumably much better with the Motorola Razr Plus 2024, not only with more app options and better navigation through them, but also because of the larger screen size.

The apps aren’t optimized for the smaller display, but most are relatively easy to use. Although you’ll run into a few, like Instagram, that are a bit more challenging since it’s so scaled down. Lee does, however, love the app continuity such that if you find an app too difficult to use on the external screen, you can open the phone and it will automatically open on the full screen. Presumably, this works the same way in the Motorola Razr Plus 2024.

With 8GB RAM and running the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, the Motorola Razr Plus 2023 did pretty well at running games in Lee’s testing. The built-in gaming mode provides an extra boost as well, though Lee noticed that the phone can get warm if you’re playing very graphics-heavy games.

The Motorola Razr Plus 2023 comes with Android 13. Though it can be upgraded to Android 14 and likely beyond, it won’t be supported for as long as the newer Motorola Razr Plus 2024, which would go up to Android 17 versus 16. So, this is something you should factor into your decision.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023: The cameras

The cameras have been vastly improved with the Motorola Razr Plus 2024. There’s a 50MP main camera or 12.6MP camera with optical image stabilization. The 50MP secondary camera, while much higher resolution than what was found in the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, is strangely a telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom instead. Lee interviewed an executive at the company who said the decision was made since consumers tend to use portrait mode more often than ultrawide. The front camera is 32MP.

You get all the usual suspects you’d expect from a Motorola device when it comes to photo modes, like portrait, Face Beauty, night vision, panorama, Auto Smile Capture, and more. Plus, there are moto ai enhancements. 

The Photo Enhancement Engine uses AI to apply settings from multiple shooting modes so you get the best possible pictures every time. It fine-tunes images for detail, clarity, highlights, shadows, color, and even bokeh effects. Adaptive Stabilization automatically determines the speed of movement and dynamically adjusts stabilization to provide the best results as well while you’re recording moving videos, like a sporting event or riding a bike.

Action Shot automatically increases and adjusts the shutter speed and illumination to account for the lighting condition; while Long Exposure helps you capture content like artistic light trails or waterfalls with a single tap. Super Zoom is also available, helping you take crisp photos from further away. It uses AI-based machine learning to help capture fine details.

Lee hasn’t had the chance to put these features and the cameras through their paces just yet: stay tuned for more details.

Nonetheless, with the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, the cameras leave much to be desired so you can be certain that they’re better in the Motorola Razr Plus 2024. There’s a decent 12MP wide camera and a 13MP ultrawide and macro camera that can take acceptable photos. The same goes for the 32MP front “selfie” camera. But these are nothing to write home about.

There are some interesting photo features beyond the usual in the Motorola Razr Plus 2023, like photo booth mode for taking a series of photos in a row, just like if you were in a photo booth. But there’s nothing particularly compelling about the camera experience with this phone.

Lee said photos taken with these cameras are “okay” and “fairly balanced,” but feel slightly muted: there’s something missing he just can’t put his finger on. Low light and night shots are decent, however, as are portrait and macro shots. So, you’ll get good results, just nothing jaw-droppingly great when it comes to photos you take with the Motorola Razr Plus 2023.

Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023: Which should you buy?

The decision between the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 vs. Razr Plus 2023 seems pretty obvious: go with the newer phone. It offers notable upgrades over the older model and comes in at the same starting price point that one did. Though you can find the Motorola Razr Plus 2023 for much cheaper now, it’s not worth getting, especially since Motorola doesn’t promise as many years of software and security updates as other brands.

If you’re concerned about cost, you can also consider the new Motorola Razr 2024,  which offers pared-down specs for a more affordable price. But comparing the Razr Plus 2024 to the Razr Plus 2023, you get plenty more AI features, much better cameras, a larger external screen on which you can do (and see) more, and a hinge that has been drastically improved.

We named the Motorola Razr Plus 2023 among the best foldable phones, but this model will likely be replaced by the Motorola Razr Plus 2024 in the ranking. If you’re considering a foldable phone, this model is a great option to consider that will be a solid upgrade or a first great device in this growing space.