Motorola Announces Razr Plus With Huge External Screen, Cheaper Razr Foldable Coming Later

Motorola’s foldable drought has officially ended. The company has announced the 2023 Razr and Razr Plus, flip-style foldables with slim designs, and a huge external display in the case of the Razr Plus. Both phones will launch in the US, but the more impressive Razr Plus will arrive first. It will cost $999 when it launches on June 16, matching Samsung’s price tag for the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Thankfully, they both dump that retro Razr chin.

With most foldables, the folding display is the star of the show, but that may not be true with the Razr Plus (above). This phone has a huge external OLED screen measuring 3.6 inches. It has a 144Hz refresh rate and is covered with the latest Gorilla Glass Victus. This 1,056-by-1,066 display is large enough to run apps without opening the phone, and they’ll be usable. The only oddity is the way the oversized camera modules take a bite out of the bottom of the display.

Inside, the Razr Plus has a 6.9-inch folding OLED at 1080p and 165Hz. There’s an ultrathin glass layer for added stability (something Samsung also uses), and Motorola says its multilayer protective design will keep the screen in good shape. This is an LTPO panel, which allows for lowering the refresh rate to as low as 1Hz when the screen is static to save battery, and the Razr Plus will need every advantage it can get with a meager 3,800mAh battery.

Inside, the Razer Plus will have a respectable Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (last year’s top-of-the-line), 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Those cameras that interrupt the display are a 12MP main and 13MP ultrawide.

The non-Plus variant is different inside and out. Rather than a gorilla glass body, this phone has “vegan leather.” A small ticker-style display on the outside measures just 1.5 inches at 368 by 194. You still get a big foldable screen on the inside, though. The 6.9-inch folding OLED panel is 1080p but just 144Hz to the Plus’s 165Hz.

The 2023 Razr doesn’t have the large cover screen of the Razr Plus.
Credit: Motorola

So the Razr misses out on the big external screen but has a larger battery. The 4,200mAh cell should keep the 2023 Razr running longer than its more expensive sibling, especially when paired with the midrange Snapdragon 7 Gen 1.

The Razr Plus will be a head-turner when it launches in a few weeks, and the $1,000 price tag is entirely in-line with the competition. However, the regular 2023 Razr might end up being more interesting. Motorola hasn’t specified the launch date or price, but trimming a couple hundred off the Razr Plus’s price could make this the first mainstream foldable.