Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025: Spot the difference

Motorola's Razr line of foldables has been dominating the U.S. market for a few years, thanks to incredible specs and aggressive pricing. In 2025, Motorola introduced its most premium flip phone, the Razr Ultra, and aside from the high launch price, we couldn't find much fault with it in our review. Motorola just introduced the Razr Ultra 2026 (along with other models), and for the first time, we have very mixed feelings about this one.

It's more expensive, and not a whole lot has changed, which actually puts the spotlight back on the 2025 Razr Ultra. Now selling for a much lower price than when it launched in 2025, it's time to compare the Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025 to see if you should grab the 2025 model right now or wait for the price drop on the 2026 model.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025: Pricing and availability

If you felt the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 was expensive, hold on to your wallet as the Razr Ultra 2026 is now $200 more, at $1,499. This is for the singular variant with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. The rising cost of memory components seems to have finally caught up with Motorola, and I have a terrible feeling we'll be seeing more nasty surprises with other 2026 launches as well.

Knowing that this probably wouldn't be a hot-ticket item, Motorola is launching the Razr Ultra 2026 in just two finishes: Pantone Cocoa (wooden finish) and Orient Blue (Alcantara finish). Pre-orders for the Razr Ultra 2026 begin on May 14, and it goes on open sale from May 21. You should expect some interesting freebies like a smartwatch or earbuds when you pre-order.

It's been a year since the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 was released, and it's now selling at nearly half price on Motorola's website. At the time of writing this, the 512GB and 1TB variants are both going for just $800. Not only that, but Motorola is also bundling Moto Buds and a Moto Tag with it to sweeten the deal.

The 2025 Motorola Razr Ultra is simply an incredible value right now and hard to pass up.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025: Design and displays

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 has the exact same dimensions as the 2025 model, which, in a way, is good news since the cases for the older model will be compatible with the new one. The bad news is that the Razr Ultra 2026 is not as slim or light as recent flip phones like the Galaxy Z Flip 7. Motorola hasn't improved the water and dust protection either, as it's still only IP48 rated.

The displays on the Razr Ultra 2026 have gotten a slight improvement. The folding screen has an extra 500 nits of brightness, bringing the peak to up to 5,000 nits. Everything else stays the same, though, which means you get a 7-inch AMOLED with a 165Hz refresh rate and 10-bit color support. The external screen is still 4 inches with a 165Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, but it now gets Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 scratch protection.

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 is still one of the best foldable phones in the market. It's built extremely well with aluminum, glass, and a titanium-reinforced hinge for added durability. We've never had any issues with daily driving this phone, and it has held up well even after a year.

The same goes for the displays. Both screens on the 2025 Razr Ultra deliver excellent brightness, colors, and touch response. The outer screen, in particular, is very useful, as it lets you perform most basic tasks in most apps without unfolding it. This has always been one of the best features of Motorola's foldables.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025: Performance and specs

We've not tested the 2026 Motorola Razr Ultra yet, but I can confidently say performance won't be an issue. What may come as a surprise to many is that Motorola has used the same Snapdragon 8 Elite from the 2025 model, instead of the 8 Elite Gen 5. While this might be a little disappointing to benchmark lovers, the reality is that the 8 Elite is still a highly capable chip, and Android apps and games don't really need more power to run well.

What has gotten better, though, is battery capacity. The 2026 Motorola Razr Ultra has a 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, instead of the usual lithium-ion tech. This has allowed Motorola to increase capacity while keeping the same size and weight as the old model. Charging speeds from the 2025 model were already pretty good at 68W wired and 30W wireless, which are carried forward here. I do wish it had native Qi2 charging, though.

Long-term software upgrades are still restricted to three OS upgrades and five years of security updates on the Razr Ultra 2026. This could have easily been higher without costing Motorola anything, at least in line with the Razr Fold, which gets seven promised updates.

The Razr Ultra 2025 uses the same Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, and performance is nothing but excellent. Games run great, benchmark scores are top-notch (albeit slightly lower due to thermal measures in place), and we never really noticed any slowdowns during everyday use.

Despite the smaller battery capacity than the 2026 Razr Ultra, the 2025 Razr Ultra also delivered very good all-day battery life. The fast charging is really the icing on the cake here, as a full charge from almost empty takes roughly 40 minutes.

The software on the 2025 Motorola Razr Ultra was good, but nothing that would blow you away like Samsung or Google. There are plenty of useful Moto AI features packed in, like Image Studio and Playlist Studio. One of the coolest features we found was Look & Talk, which triggers Moto AI by just looking at the phone when in Tent or Stand mode.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025: Cameras

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 has just two outer cameras: a wide and an ultrawide. These turned out to be very resourceful, and you get punchy and detailed images in daylight, as well as decent low-light performance, too. Images taken at even 2x zoom look good, but going beyond that isn't advisable since there's no dedicated telephoto camera. The phone can also record at 8K, which is impressive.

Motorola has thrown in some AI camera tricks too, like Action Shot for capturing fast-moving subjects, and Group Shot, which is its version of Google's Best Take.

The 2026 Motorola Razr Ultra gets an upgraded 50MP LOFIC main camera sensor, which is said to improve dynamic range, capture better detail, and bring even faster shutter speeds. These are all good improvements to have, and we can't wait to test them out ourselves. The rest of the sensors have stayed the same, and you can still expect good performance from them, as we didn't encounter any glaring issues with the 2025 model.

A few new software tricks have been added to the camera app. The Razr Ultra 2026 features an improved camcorder mode, which now lets you zoom in or out by rotating your wrist left or right while recording. The cool thing is that your subject stays locked with the horizon even though you rotate the camera for this. It's a little gimmicky if you ask me, but it's there if you wish to have some fun while shooting.

Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 vs. Razr Ultra 2025: Which one should you buy?

If you've read through this comparison this far, the answer should be loud and clear. I strongly recommend getting the 2025 Motorola Razr Ultra now while you still can. The $800 price tag is fantastic for what is essentially a proper flagship phone. Plus, you don't want to miss Motorola's current offers, where you're getting the 1TB variant and freebies, all for this low price. Other than slightly lower battery life and the possibility of sharper photos from the main camera, you're really not losing anything by picking this 2025 model over the 2026 model.

The 2026 Motorola Razr Ultra is simply too expensive at launch, and I can't think of any justification for anyone to spend this sort of money on it. But being the type of company that is Motorola, I have a strong feeling we'll be seeing the 2026 Razr Ultra with big discounts pretty soon. At that time, it could be worth considering, but only the 2025 model hasn't been taken out of rotation.