Motorola Razr+ Vs Motorola Razr 2023: Which Razr To Get?
Motorola has launched two new clamshell foldables in the US, the top-of-the-line Motorola Razr+ and the budget-friendly Motorola Razr 2023. How do these phones compare, and what trade-offs do you suffer for choosing the budget model? Let’s take a look at it in this comparo.
Motorola Razr+
Motorola Razr+ is the latest flagship clamshell foldable, comes with the biggest cover display in its segment, and offers good performance and features.Â
Pros
- Big cover display
- Good performance
- Design
- Good battery
Cons
- Cameras could be better
- No IP rating
Motorola Razr 2023
With Motorola Razr 2023, Motorola looks to drop the entry price to clamshell foldables for consumers. It doesn’t offer the same flagship experience as Razr+, but it does come close.
Pros
- Design
- Good performance (for the price)
- Good battery
Cons
- Cameras could be better
Motorola Razr+ Vs. Motorola Razr 2023 – KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Motorola Razr+ is the more premium model and comes with a premium design to match the price it asks.
- The cover display on Motorola Razr+ is the biggest ever in a clamshell foldable, while Motorola Razr 2023 settles for a minimalistic cover display.
- Both phones have similarly sized foldable displays, a 6.9-inch AMOLED panel with Full HD+ resolution. The display in Razr+ has a higher refresh rate of 165Hz, while the one on Razr 2023 has a refresh rate of 144Hz.
- Razr+ is the more powerful out of the two, thanks to the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. Razr 2023 isn’t a slouch; it has the latest Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC.
- Both phones have a dual camera setup. Razr+ has a 12MP primary + 13MP ultra-wide secondary setup, while the primary camera on Razr 2023 is a 64MP sensor while keeping the same 13MP ultrawide camera.
- Razr+ has a 3800mAh battery, while Razr 2023 has a bigger one at 4200mAh.
- Both phones support 30W wired charging and 5W wireless charging.
Design
Motorola has stepped up the design game in the Razr series of phones with Motorola Razr+. The cover display on this phone is striking; it covers the whole outer body, with the dual cameras and flash placed in a punch hole in the phone. It is the biggest cover display in any of the clamshell foldables. Motorola Razr 2023, the cheaper model, comes with a much smaller cover display embedded with dual cameras in a black panel.
The rest of the design is similar in both phones, featuring a vegan leather build. On the back, you’ll see the Motorola logo in the middle, with Razr branding on the bottom.
Displays
Both the Razr phones have a similar-sized foldable display, a 6.9-inch one. Both are pOLED panels with a resolution of Full HD+, but the refresh rate is different. Razr+ has a higher refresh rate of 165Hz, while Razr 2023 settles for 144Hz.Â
On the outside, the cover display is vastly different. Razr+ uses a much bigger cover display, coming in at 3.6 inches. It is an OLED panel with a resolution of 1056 x 1066 pixels and supports a higher refresh rate of 144Hz.
Razr 2023, on the other, has a much smaller cover display of size 1.5 inches with a resolution of 194 x 368 pixels. It doesn’t have a high refresh rate, though. Both the cover displays are protected by Gorilla Glass Victus.Â
Performance
Motorola Razr+ is powered by Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, the previous generation Snapdragon flagship chipset. While it isn’t as powerful as Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, it is still one of the fastest chipsets on the Android side.
Motorola Razr 2023 is powered by Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC, the latest 7 series chipset from Snapdragon. It isn’t as powerful as Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 in Razr+, but it sits below its performance and is comparable to the older Snapdragon 888.
Camera
Motorola Razr+ and Razr 2023 have dual camera setups on the back. Razr+ combines a 12MP primary camera and a 13MP ultrawide camera, while Razr 2023 uses a 64MP primary camera and a 13MP ultrawide camera setup. Both phones use the same 32MP selfie shooter placed in the punch hole.Â
Take a look at the official camera samples of Motorola Razr+:
Here are the official camera samples from Motorola Razr 2023:
Battery
Razr 2023 has a clear advantage over Razr+ in the battery front. It uses a 4200mAh battery, while Razr+ has a smaller 3800mAh one. Both phones use a 30W fast charger and support 5W wireless charging.
Software
Motorola phones use My UX skin based on Android 13. My UX is a close-to-stock Android skin that has some extra features sprinkled over it. If you fancy a clamshell foldable with a Pixel-like experience, Motorola foldables are the ones you should get.Â
Motorola Razr+ has some extra features tailored to its much bigger cover screen. The cover screen can do most of the stuff you’d need to open the phone. You can view notifications, customize the clock, open apps, type on it, and even has a Spotify panel for controlling music. Motorola Razr 2023 has a much-limited cover display functionalities owing to the much smaller screen. It has a clock, and you can view the notification dots; that’s pretty much what you can do with the outer cover display.
Motorola promises both phones three years of OS updates and 4 years of security patches.
Specs Comparison Table
| Specification | Motorola Razr+ | Motorola Razr 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 170.8 x 74 x 7 mm Folded: 88.4 x 74 x 15.1 mm | Unfolded: 170.8 x 74 x 7.4 mm Folded: 88.2 x 74 x 15.8 mm |
| Weight | 188.5 g | 188.6 g |
| Build | Plastic front (inner display), Glass front (cover display), Glass back & Aluminum frame | Plastic front (inner display), Plastoc front (cover display), Glass back & Aluminum frame |
| SIM | Nano-SIM, eSIM or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) | Nano-SIM, eSIM or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| IP rating | N/A | N/A |
| Main display size | 6.9 inches | 6.9 inches |
| Main display type | pOLED | pOLED |
| Main display resolution | 1080 x 2640 pixels | 1080 x 2640 pixels |
| Main display refresh rate | 165Hz | 144Hz |
| Display certifications | HDR10+ | HDR10+ |
| Display Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Cover display size | 3.6 inches | 1.5 inches |
| Cover display type | AMOLED | AMOLED |
| Cover diplay resolution | 1056 x 1066 pixels | 194 x 368 pixels |
| Cover display refresh rate | 144Hz | 60Hz |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 | Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 |
| CPU | Octa-core (1×3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510) | Octa-core (1×2.4 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.36 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A510) |
| GPU | Adreno 730 | Adreno 644 |
| RAM | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Storage | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Main camera | 12 MP, f/1.5, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, PDAF, OIS | 64 MP, f/1.7, 0.7µm, PDAF, Laser AF, OIS |
| Ultra-wide camera | 13 MP, f/2.2, 108Ëš, 1/3″, 1.12µm, AF | 13 MP, f/2.2, 120Ëš, 1/3″, 1.12µm, AF |
| Selfie camera | 32 MP, f/2.4, 0.7µm | 32 MP, f/2.4, 0.7µm |
| Battery capacity | 3800 mAh | 4200 mAh |
| Charging speed | 30W | 30W |
| Wireless charging | 5W wireless charging | 5W wireless |
| Operating system | MyUX based on Android 13 | MyUX based on Android 13 |
| Price | $999 | Yet to reveal |
Price And Value For Money
Motorola Razr+ costs $999 in the US. It goes on the first sale on June 16 via Motorola.com and soon via T-Mobile.
Motorola hasn’t revealed the prices for Razr 2023 yet; it has only revealed that there will be a meaningful difference between the MSRP compared to the Plus model. It could mean that Motorola Razr 2023 would be priced anywhere between $799 to $899.
Conclusion
Motorola Razr 2023 could greatly reduce the entry point for various consumers to the flip-foldable segment. The pricing is yet to be revealed for the Razr 2023, but we can expect it to be around $800 to $900 compared to the pricier Motorola Razr+.
Motorola Razr+ is a great alternative to Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. It has the biggest cover display among all the clamshell foldables and offers great performance with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC.
Choosing one of the two Razrs is a matter of what you want from your phone. If you want one of the best clamshell foldables on the market, you should go for Motorola Razr+. But if you’re a little value conscious and don’t mind the toned-down performance, you should wait for Motorola Razr 2023!
