Five reasons why you should consider this Prime Day deal for your first flip phone – and two why you shouldn’t
Ready to take the plunge with your first folding phone? Here’s five reasons why I love this clamshell phone – and two why you may not
Folding phones have come a long way since the old days of the iconic Razr but if there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, it’s that Motorola is consistently one of the biggest names in the game. The smartphone manufacturer hasn’t always been the best in the business – until recently, Samsung’s Z Flip line was consistently our favourite pick – but things really heated up this year with the release of the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra.
This stylish folding phone fixed just about every issue that I’d had with the Razr 40 Ultra and even added in a couple of features that I didn’t know I wanted. There’s a lot to say about the Razr 50 Ultra and why it makes for a great introduction to the foldable format but I’ve condensed it down into five simple points that sum up why I’m such a fan.
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: The price
Ok so first of all, let’s talk about this deal. The Razr 50 Ultra was already more affordable than the competition, retailing for £999. That got you the single model with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space. The equivalent model of Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Flip 6 cost £1,149 at launch, though you could also accept half the storage and pay only £1049.
I’ve already written about the solid Prime Day discount on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 but Motorola isn’t one to be outdone and has dropped the price of the Razr 50 Ultra even further. Previously averaging around £949 in price, it’s now down to just £768 – it’s lowest price on record.
Considering that you could easily be looking at four figures for one of the latest folding phones, the fact that you can get the latest generation of what I consider to be the best clamshell overall, while paying under £800, is an exciting prospect indeed.
View Motorola Razr 50 Ultra deal at Amazon
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: The design
I’ve done a full breakdown comparing the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 but, to sum things up briefly, I much prefer the design of the Razr. The colour options are more vibrant (I’m particularly partial to the deep green shade of my review model), the polished aluminium catches the light beautifully and the rounded edges make it easier to slip a thumb between the two halves and open the phone one-handed.
The water resistance has been upgraded to IPX8, meaning that it can survive a 30-minute dunk in 1.5m of water and, while the Galaxy has added a bit of particle resistance, it only protects against objects greater in diameter than 1mm, so dust and sand are still fair game.
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: The displays
Going hand-in-hand with the gorgeous display is the full-sized external screen that wraps around the camera lenses and covers near-enough the entire front of the phone. Compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 6, which uses a smaller display with a lower resolution and slower refresh rate, this panel is a delight to use.
Better still, you can assign any app you choose to be opened on the cover screen, meaning that you can prop the phone up in stand mode and watch Netflix on the train if you fancy. This isn’t the optimal way to watch Netflix, of course, but the flexibility offered by Motorola here is what I appreciate the most. The choice of how to use the screen is yours to make.
The internal display is excellent, as well, with one of the most discreet hinge creases on any folding phone to date. The 6.9in folding AMOLED display has a lightning fast peak refresh rate of 165Hz, and LTPO technology allows it to dynamically adjust on the fly to preserve battery life. The 2,640 x 1,080 resolution is perfectly sharp and, while the colour accuracy didn’t impress me, the variance wasn’t dramatic enough for any shades to look out of place.
View Motorola Razr 50 Ultra deal at Amazon
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: The cameras
On top of bearing the largest external display on any flip phone to date, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra pips the competition to the post in the photography race, too, being the first flip phone to add a dedicated telephoto camera. This 50MP (f/2.4) offers a 2x optical zoom that’s great for portraits, as well as capturing the finer details in landscapes and buildings alike.
Alongside that is a new 50MP (f/1.7) main camera that proved to be even better in my testing. Colours captured are rich without spilling into oversaturation, the details are well defined and even after dark, the tone is well-maintained, producing beautifully moody shots.
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: The non-Ultra model
Perhaps most appealing to first-time foldable owners is that, if you aren’t ready to drop over £700 on your new phone, you can pick up the regular Motorola Razr 50 for even less. Also included in the Prime Day sale, this “Lite” model is discounted down from an average of £751 to just £650 – also its lowest price on record.
I wasn’t as blown away by this model as I was by the Ultra but there’s still a lot to get excited about here. The cover display has grown since the previous generation, now covering the same space that the Razr 40 Ultra’s did, and offering the same open availability of apps as the Ultra model.
The 6.9in main display gets the same 2,640 x 1,080 resolution as its bigger sibling and an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate – once again, the crease over the hinge is incredibly small. Colour accuracy is much better here, as well, with an average Delta E colour variance score of 1.31.
Performance is a little on the slow side, and you won’t be getting the best frame rates from demanding 3D games, but on the plus side, battery life is nothing short of outstanding, with the result of 25hrs 21mins being the best we’ve ever seen from a flip phone.
View Motorola Razr 50 deal at Amazon
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: Any downsides?
In my head-to-head, there were two main areas in which the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 outclassed the Razr 50 Ultra. The first is performance. The Razr uses the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset, which delivers decent performance and realistically, is fast enough for most users. If you want to get the absolute top speeds (or the smoothest 3D mobile gaming) from your folding phone, however, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is the best bet.
Equally, both models launched with Android 14 and offer a broadly similar user experience. However, the Razr is only pledged to receive three years of OS updates and four of security patches, while the Samsung is getting the same seven years of each as the rest of the brand’s 2024 flagship phones. Will you be using the phone beyond three to four years’ time? If the answer is probably yes, you may find a little more security with the Galaxy.
View Motorola Razr 50 Ultra deal at Amazon
Motorola Razr 50 Ultra: Should you buy one?
If either of those last two points put you off, there’s a great deal on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 in the Prime Day sale, as well, with prices starting as low as £849 for the 256GB model. If, however, you were more taken with the five features that I loved about the Razr, then I heartily recommend this beautiful handset as your first or next folding phone.
The cameras are some of the best we’ve seen from a foldable, the external display is big, bright and blindingly useful, the build itself is more robust than before and stylish to boot and the main display is vibrant and uninterrupted by a bulky crease. All for the lowest price on record of £768 – the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra is the best value for money foldable going right now.
