It’s the year of the folding phone. Though developments in the slab phone world are bound to bring some excitement in 2026, if you ask me the most interesting and innovative developments in this year’s smartphone story are going to come from foldables.
That’s already proved true in the few days of 2026 we’ve already experienced – the Samsung Galaxy TriFold is casting a long shadow over the tech world ahead of its unannounced US release date, and rumors of the iPhone Fold and its possible specs are moving at pace.
However, neither of these stories have captured my attention quite like the Motorola Razr Fold, the brand’s first booklet-style folding phone. After a brief but dense barrage of rumors and leaks since the start of the year, Motorola officially announced the new handset at CES 2026, and it’s looking very interesting already.
The Motorola Razr Fold comes with a 6.56-inch cover display and an 8.09-inch inner screen – that’s the largest folding display on any bifold phone. It also sports a triple camera system with the usual trio of main, ultra-wide, and 3x telephoto cameras.
The revived Razr series has built its reputation by offering a solid Android folding phone experience at lower prices than the competition, with a particular focus on undercutting Samsung. For example, the Motorola Razr 2025 (sold as the Razr 60 in other markets) starts at $699.99 / £799.99, beating the Galaxy Z Flip 7 which comes in at $1,099 / £1,049 / AU$1,799.
Of course, Samsung still comes out on top when it comes to hardware performance and, if you ask me, build quality. But for some users price is the only important metric.
In the wake of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 launching at a retail price of almost $2,000, I wrote that the widening gap between folding phones and flagship slab phones could allow for the growth of a mid-range folding phone market. This year will bring the eighth generation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold phones and the fourth generation of Google Pixel Pro Fold phones, and as the technology matures I think we’re getting to a point where consumers will accept slightly less advanced features if this engenders a more reasonable price point.
As such, I’m hoping that the Razr Fold will continue the trend set by the Razr flip phones and act as a mid-range alternative in the folding phone market. We don’t have pricing information for the new phone yet, but I’d like to see it come in at around $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,199.
At this price – slightly cheaper than the launch price of the OnePlus Open – I think the Razr Fold could catalyse a surge in interest in folding phones from keen onlookers who might be put off by the huge price tags attached to the mainstream options (Honor and Oppo offer their folding phones for reasonable prices, but aren’t available in the US). It’d be my hope that phone makers take note and start making plans for cheaper versions of their flagship foldables – I’ve used plenty of folding phones, and all that experience has shown me that the idea of folding phones as a necessarily overpowered productivity tool might be one to let go of.
In truth, what I and I think most users use folding phones for are the exact same things we use regular phones for, only bigger, and therefore better. Reading articles, watching videos, playing games – these are all often more comfortable on the internal screen. To be honest, multitasking is often a secondary use case – there’s only so much you can do on an 8-inch screen, and Motorola can use this to its advantage by positioning the Razr Fold as the casual user’s foldable.
However, we already know that Motorola isn’t skimping on hardware with the Razr Fold, which might make it difficult to attain such a modest price point. Moto is no stranger to releasing premium products, and as our Razr Ultra 2025 review notes, the brand’s most expensive phone costs more than the Galaxy Z Flip 7, more than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, in fact. It’s entirely possible that Motorola sees the Razr Fold as a premium alternative to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, rather than a mid-range competitor.
But if you ask me, that’d be a missed opportunity. Motorola is not the kind of brand that can lead the charge into the post-$2,000 price point; it’d be wiser to leave that to Samsung, from which customers expect heftier price tags. Motorola’s greatest mobile wins are in value for money, and that’s what I think it should chase with the Razr Fold – both for the good of a nascent mid-range folding phone market, and for its own sake.
So, since we already know that the Razr Fold will ship with two huge LTPO displays and a solid array of cameras, there’s no point looking for cost savings there. What I’m looking for now are the internal hardware elements that could shave a few percentage points off the price tag – I’d be happy to see the Razr Fold launch with a second-tier chipset and a fixed 12GB of RAM if it means bringing the required spend down.
In any case, the Razr Fold’s design decisions are likely all confirmed now, so all we can do is wait and see. None of the above is to say that the Razr Fold would be a write-off if it launches at a comparable or greater price than Samsung and Google’s handsets (I’m particularly happy to see stylus support and palm rejection for all my note-takers and doodlers out there), but I do find myself concerned that Motorola might not be able to compete without either experience or value for money as a selling point (a concern shared by a recent Android Authority op-ed).
In any case, the Razr Fold is sure to register as one of the best Motorola phones at launch, and I’ll be rooting for it to have some quirk or special quality that makes it worthy of our best folding phones guide, too. Be sure to keep an eye on both guides for updates.
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jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
