Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a great option if you’re looking for a calmshell flip phone, with a lovely design, great displays and powerful hardware under its hood. There’s plenty to love about this phone.
Motorola Razr+ 2023
Motorola may have finally cracked it with the Razr 40 Ultra (Razr+), delivering a phone with a great display, battery life and software. The secondary display on the outside is surprisingly useful too.
For fans of foldable smartphones, this is the best time of year. Samsung just launched theGalaxy Z Flip 5to take on thewell-received Motorola Razr+(Razr 40 Ultra for those in the UK). Both phones feature pocket-friendly shapes and cool functionality on the outer and inner displays, but which petite foldable phone is right for your needs? It’s a tough question, but we’re here to guide you toward the phone that’ll go with your lifestyle, budget, and overall needs.
This is how the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 compares to the Motorola Razr+ or Razr 40 Ultra, depending on what region you are in. If you want to knowhow the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 compares to the Galaxy Z Flip 4, we have you covered in a separate feature.
Price, specs & availability
The newly-announced Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is available to pre-order now for the same starting $999 price as last year’s model, which makes sense, as Motorola also sells its little foldable for $999 in the US. In the UK, it’s a similar story with the Z Flip 5 starting at £1049, and the Razr 40 Ultra selling for £1049. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 will be on the shelves from 11 August, while the Motorola is available to buy now.
Both phones are - or will be - available in the retailers you would expect. Be prepared for the difference in name on the Motorola side though, and look for a Razr+ in the US and a Razr 40 Ultra in the UK. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes in Mint, Graphite, Cream and Lavender colour options as standard, with Gray, Blue, Green and Yellow options available exclusively through Samsung.com. The Motorola Razr+ (or Razr 40 Ultra), meanwhile, comes in Infinite Black, Glacier Blue, and Viva Magenta. You can see a quick rundown of the differences in specs between these models below, but if you want more details on how they comapre, keep reading beyond the numbers.
Design and build
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr+ have a clamshell design, which is their biggest selling point. They both feature a small screen on the front and a large, long screen on the inside that provides traditional smartphone functionality when opened, with large and fully usable displays. When folded, they are both small and easy to tuck into a pocket when closed, which is where their appeal comes from. To some people, the design might seem like a gimmick to capture old flip phone nostalgia. To others, the design is what they’ve been waiting for from a smartphone.
Both phones have dual camera systems on the outside, so you can snap photos when the device is open or closed. They’re quite visible on either phone, though the external display on the Motorola encompasses these lenses, while Samsung wraps the display around the lenses. We think the Motorola looks better in this sense, but it’s down to personal preference and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 still looks excellent in the flesh.
The size of the phones is similar, as is the weight. Closed, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is 85.1 x 71.9 x 15.1mm, while the Razr+ is 88.4 x 74 x 15.1mm. When unfolded, Samsung’s phone is 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9mm, and Motorola’s is 170.8 x 74 x 7mm. For anyone who’s getting their flip phone because they want it to be as small as possible, Samsung gets the win here, but it’s only by a few millimeters, and it probably won’t be enough to make a discernable difference.
The Motorola Razr+ (Razr Ultra 40) usesGorilla Glass Victus. Samsung has upgraded to Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for its phone, the same glass used on the durableGalaxy S23 series of phones. Samsung carries anIPX8 rating, which means it’s highly resistant to water and can be submerged, but it isn’t rated for solid particles like dust. The Motorola Razr+ offers an IP52 rating, which offers protection from limited dust ingress, but minimal protection from water, only covering it from light splashing less than 15 degrees from vertical. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the better durability choice, as most phone damage comes from water. Plus, the newer Gorilla Glass is a nice bonus.
Like previous models, there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack on either of these phones, so if you’re looking for a device to use wired headphones with, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 3.4-inch AMOLED external display with a 60Hz refresh rate and a 748 x 720 resolution. The Razr+ (Razr Ultra 40) has a slightly larger 3.6-inch external display with a 1066 x 1056 resolution and a144Hz refresh rate. That’s a huge difference in speed for the external screens. However, it is worth mentioning that here is one area the numbers don’t tell the entire story. The extra speed is nice but it won’t be a complete game-changer since you won’t be playing games or using the outside screens as your main display. The Motorola is also sharper and more detailed in terms of resolution too though.
Inside, you get a 6.7-inch AMOLED display with a 2640 x 1080 resolution on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and a 6.9-inch AMOLED screen with a 2640 x 1080 resolution on Motorola’s latest flip phone. While it’s not a huge difference in screen size, it’s still something to note. Being slightly smaller however, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will offer the more detailed display with more pixels packed in per inch. This likely won’t be noticeable to the human eye but it’s worth mentioning nevertheless.
Outside of the marginal size difference, perhaps the biggest thing separating the two phones is the refresh rate: the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a 120Hz display, and the Motorola Razr+ has a 165Hz screen. That extra speed won’t revolutionise the way you use your phone or anything like that, and you would probably be hard-pressed to notice, but it is a nice bonus.
Performance and hardware
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 has a slightly better processor than the Motorola Razr+ (Razr Ultra 40). You get aQualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2in Samsung’s phone and aQualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1processor in Motorola’s. They’re both high-end processors that’ll handle any app you could throw at them. Both Samsung and Motorola offer 8GB of RAM for the base models, but you can upgrade the Motorola Razr+ to 12GB if you go with the high-end model, which is a nice option for the performance-hungry.
For storage, Samsung and Motorola offer either 256 or 512GB of space. The only difference is that Motorola has the aforementioned option with 8GB of RAM and 256GB. In comparison, Samsung only offers 8GB of RAM, regardless of your chosen model.
We don’t expect to see huge differences in battery life between the two phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 3700mAh battery, and the Motorola Razr+ has a 3800mAh cell. While the battery is marginally larger in the Motorola phone, the screens are bigger, so it should balance out to a fairly similar battery life.
You getAndroid 13with both phones, but Samsung’s devices have the more heavily modified One UI skin on top. Motorola’s option is almost completely stock Android like Google’s offerings, so it’s a good option for those who don’t like the extra bells and whistles Samsung adds to its devices. Both devices come with extra software features too, like the ability to sit them in certain positions to watch something, use the external displays to access quick settings or use it as a viewfinder for the rear cameras.
Both the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr+ are lacking in the camera area compared to otherflagship smartphones. That’s not to say they won’t take good photos; in our reviews (the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has the same camera loadout as the Galaxy Z Flip 4), we found them to be decent; they’re just not on par with the phones like thePixel 7 Pro,iPhone 14 Pro Max, andGalaxy S23 Ultra.
In the Galaxy Z Flip 5, you get two 12-megapixel cameras doing the heavy lifting on the outside of the phone. One is a 12-megapixel f/1.8 aperture main lens, and the other is a 12-megapixel f/2.2 aperture ultra-wide shooter. Inside, there’s a 10-megapixel f/2.2 selfie camera, though you can take selfies using the better main lens on the outside of the device thanks to the small screen working as a viewfinder, as we mentioned.
You also get two cameras on the Moto Razr+ (Razr Ultra 40). There’s a 12-megapixel main shooter with an f/1.5 aperture and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture. Inside, there’s a 32-megapixel selfie camera with an f/2.4 aperture, which is quite a bit higher resolution than any of the other snappers on either phone.
Choosing between the two phones for cameras is tough. Motorola offers a slightly higher resolution on some of its cameras, but Samsung is known for the bright images captured by its phones. Essentially, you’re able to’t go wrong with either, but just be prepared for a slight downgrade if you’re coming from a traditional top-of-the-line flagship.
Conclusion
The decision between the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Motorola Razr+ (Razr 40 Ultra) is no easy choice, as both phones are great at what they do. The biggest deciding factor is whether you have brand loyalty or bias. If you’ve owned many Samsung phones and enjoyed the experience, you could be better off sticking with what you know. If you’ve enjoyed Motorola’s devices, the Razr+ (Razr 40 Ultra) could be your phone.
Another thing to consider is the Android experience. Samsung’s devices offer One UI, while Motorola uses something more closely resembling stock Android 13. There’s some bloatware on both phones, though, so you might have to spend time deleting unwanted apps regardless of which phone you buy.
You can also look and see which phone is available with good deals. Samsung is offering $50 towards the purchase of Z Flip 5 if you reserve one, and the Motorola Razr+ has been available for a little longer, so you can find deals at many retailers and through carriers. Since the price of the phones is the same, the deals you can get could help push you in one direction.
