Motorola Razr 40 Ultra: A groundbreaking foldable

The Motorola Razr brought the well-known cell phone manufacturer gigantic worldwide success in 2003. 20 years after the bestseller, the company now seems to launch another revolutionary device with its Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. The foldable not only scores with its extremely thin design, which is even slimmer than the competition from Samsung and Co. when folded, but also offers the largest external display by far.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra outshines the competition

Don’t spill the beans, make do. That seems to be what the clever minds behind the now officially unveiled Motorola Razr 40 Ultra intended with their brand new foldable smartphone. However, despite the groundbreaking technology, the device remains true to its original design idea. Thus, it comes across extremely thin in both the opened and closed state, as it already has from 20 years ago. The razor blade in the name is not far off. If you fold it up, it is even significantly thinner than a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, for example. And not only that is noticeable when the device is in the handy compact mode. On top of that, you can see the extremely large outer display here, which measures a proud 3.6 inches.

The OLED panel offers a razor-sharp resolution of 1,066 x 1,056 pixels and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. On top of that, Motorola speaks of a maximum brightness of 1,100 nits as well as a color space coverage in DCI-P3 of 100 percent. Thus, the company seems to have succeeded in creating a really full-fledged display on the outside as well. It should be possible to use it comfortably for all common apps. Consequently, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra should be able to be used as a mini-smartphone when folded, which does not demand any losses from the user.

Full-featured smartphone even in “mini mode”

If you take a look at common foldable smartphones, the outer display usually stinks. So far, this has mainly been considered a source of information, which can be used to quickly and conveniently catch up on notifications. However, the 3.6-inch display of Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra is more important. Thus, the smartphone offers a lot of application possibilities even when folded. No matter if you want to reply in Messenger, stream music via Spotify or navigate via Google Maps.

All the usual operating options of a conventional smartphone display should be possible via the external display. For example, you should be able to use Google Wallet with the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra even when it is folded, which allows convenient payments. This could lead to one or the other using the slim smartphone primarily in the handy mini mode. Things get futuristic when you take a look at the two cameras on the outer display. Motorola embeds them directly into the display. That doesn’t just look damn cool.

On top of that, the display is given a practical task here. After all, it turns into a mirror when you want to take a picture. Not only the people you are photographing benefit from this. If you put the smartphone down in an angled position to take a picture of yourself, you can also take a look in the mirror. It is not surprising that the camera technology is also state-of-the-art. Two lenses with 12 and 13 MP resolution are at work here. Of course, you can also look into a camera in the opened mode. Here, a camera with 32 MP resolution is used as a selfie camera.

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Extra class display in unfolded mode

Until now, a foldable design in smartphones made for rather thick dimensions, making them feel compact but clunky in your pocket. The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra wants to do this differently despite its two large displays inside. No sooner said than done. When the device is folded, it measures just 73.95 × 88.24 × 15.1 mm. This makes it the thinnest foldable on the market. It gets really thin when you open the smartphone. At 6.99 mm, the aluminum smartphone is surprisingly slim. Despite the slim design, the device offers reliable protection against damage from external influences thanks to IP52 certification and Gorilla Glass Victus. The two displays inside together form a diagonal of 6.9 inches.

OLED technology is once again used here. The panel resolves with 2,640 x 1,080 pixels and offers a refresh rate of 165 Hz. Not only this data tops the outdoor display once again. On top of that, the manufacturer promises a maximum brightness of up to 1,400 nits and a color space coverage of DCI-P3 of 120 percent. The technology under the hood is also state-of-the-art. The core is a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 from Qualcomm. It is supported by either 8 or 12 GB of RAM. You can choose between 256 and 512 GB of internal flash storage. The battery has a capacity of 3800 mAh and does not feature the fastest charging technology. It can be charged with 30 watts via cable. Wireless charging is possible with 5 watts of power.

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Small trade-offs with the Razr 40

While the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra launches as an uncompromising foldable, it is primarily the price that should convince with the Razr 40. After all, Motorola fires up the competition with rival Samsung with an MSRP of 899.99 Euros. The South Koreans offer their Galaxy Z Flip 4 at a much higher RRP of just under 1,100 Euros. But what compromises do we have to accept compared to Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra? The “low-budget version” also cuts a good figure, but performs a bit worse than the premium variant in the individual disciplines.

For example, the outdoor display here measures 1.5 inches, less than half the size of the Ultra. With 60 Hz and 1,000 nits, it is also a bit less bright and slower. On the other hand, the differences in the main display are less obvious when it is opened. Here, we find the same technical data by and large. The only exception is the refresh rate, which is a bit slower at 144 Hz. The Razr 40 is almost 0.7 mm thicker than Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra when folded. However, it is still surprisingly slim. However, the minimally thicker design also has its advantages.

Thus, a significantly larger 4,200 mAh battery is used in the Motorola Razr 40. The charging technology is the same as that of the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. It is questionable whether the larger battery also provides more stamina. After all, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 is an older processor than in the premium version. The battery runtimes of the two members of the Razr family are probably the same, but the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 works even better in terms of energy efficiency. The other technical specs are again in agreement. You get flagship technology like dual-SIM, Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E in both foldables. Thus, the Razr 40 is definitely an attractive, significantly cheaper alternative.

Price and availability

The manufacturer might have achieved another milestone with the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. After all, the foldable seems to be the first truly uncompromising foldable smartphone. Those who are interested in the presumably groundbreaking smartphone can get it now for an MSRP of 1,199.99 Euros.