I put the Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Razr Ultra (2025) through a 10-round photo shootout — here's the winner

Tom's Guide

17-07-2025

When it comes to flip-style phones, the two that should be on your radar should be the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Razr Ultra (2025). Not only do they have more utility than the average slate phone, but they're also incredibly gifted at taking photos.
In my Razr Ultra (2025) review, I said how I was thrilled to see that the phone returned to form by ditching the telephoto camera of last year's Razr Plus and replacing it with an ultrawide — so it now consists of a 50MP main shooter and a 50MP ultrawide. What's even more impressive is that I said it's the most powerful flip phone to date.
Samsung would beg to differ now that its new flip phone is official, and if any of my past photo shootouts have any indication, I would bet the result would be the same. Even though I've had it for less than a week, I didn't waste time snapping photos with the Galaxy Z Flip 7. It features a 50MP main camera paired with a 12MP ultrawide, which are identical on paper to last year's Galaxy Z Flip 6.
I've taken several shots from both phones under different circumstances with their cameras, then previewed the results on my laptop to see how they differ. Here's how they stack up against one another.
From a quick glance, the two flip phones appear to deliver the same performance under daytime settings. When I zoom into the tree's bark on the left hand side, I really like how both phones capture the same amount of detail — like how the knots all around it are clearly defined.
Upon closer inspection, though, I can tell how the Razr Ultra (2025) boosts the shadows by a smidge, which results in giving the overall shot a slightly flatter look. In comparison, the contrast is much stronger and more pronounced with the Z Flip 7. It's a narrow margin, but I'm giving it to the Galaxy Z Flip 7.
Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7
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When it comes to grading their ultrawide cams, the first thing I take note of are their field of views. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 has a 123-degree FoV, while the Razr Ultra (2025) has a 122-degree one. That's not enough of a difference in my opinion because it's almost impossible to tell which has the wider shot of the water fountain at Bryant Park.
Instead, my attention is drawn to the brighter, overall picture of the Razr Ultra. It looks much bolder than the Galaxy Z Flip 7, but I'm also impressed by its superior detail capture — like the carvings all around the base of the fountain.
Winner: Razr Ultra (2025)
Due to the contrast in light with the shots above, it really impacts how they produce colors. Usually I'm a fan of more natural color tones, but the Z Flip 7 has a low contrast look that makes colors flat. The pinks in the flowers specifically show this.
Meanwhile, the Razr Ultra (2025) continues to favor a higher contrast that makes the colors pop a bit more.
Winner: Razr Ultra (2025)
There's an overwhelming advantage on paper for the Razr Ultra (2025) and its 50MP selfie camera, especially compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 7's 10MP one. But yet again, it proves my point that you shouldn't just look into the numbers.
Despite the pixel crunching numbers, the Razr Ultra suffers from overexposing the shot — including my skin tone that's unusually on the lighter side. In addition, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 does a much better job at capturing the fine details around my face and shirt.
Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7
I have to admit, the portrait shots I captured look pretty convincing thanks in part to how well they lock the focus on me while blurring out the background. Samsung's phone is a tad bit more aggressive with the bokeh on the default setting, but I also noticed how it overexposes the entire shot by a smidge. My neckline is an example of this, as the shadowed areas seem to lose detail due to the overexposure.
Between them, I prefer the more realistic look of the Razr Ultra (2025) — primarily for its more accurate blurring of the background and how it keeps the better contrast on the subject.
Winner: Razr Ultra (2025)
When I captured the panoramas above of Bryant Park's lawn, I held both phones vertically. While the Galaxy Z Flip 7 gives me the choice of using the main or ultrawide camera, the Razr Ultra (2025) locks it to the main one. However, the Galaxy Z Flip 7's panorama shot with its main camera still captures more of the scene vertically.
One thing I noticed is that both flip phones struggle with the brighter areas, like the buildings in the far background, which are way overexposed. Neither phone impresses me with the way they turned out, but the only reason why the Galaxy Z Flip 7 wins out here is because it lets me use both cameras — and gets more of the scene included in the shot.
Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7
With the shot of the flowering cactus, it's really easy to tell which phone is better for macro photography. Since it features a dedicated macro mode, I'm able to get significantly closer with the Razr Ultra (2025) — while also capturing more details around the sprouting buds coming from it.
I had to move the Galaxy Z Flip 7 back further to ensure the focus was just right, but it clearly doesn't have the same closeup abilities. It's still a nice shot that softens the background, but the bland colors and weaker details capture don't make it as good.
Winner: Razr Ultra (2025)
All zooming is done through their respective main cameras, which places a lot on image processing algorithms to enhance their shots. Starting at 2x zoom, I feel the results are just as good as a dedicated zoom camera with an optical lens.
Between them, the Razr Ultra produces the better shot by far due to its brighter overall picture. The shadows get treated with enough exposure without causing the highlights to overexpose. I really like how the sky still manages to retain an even exposure as the rest of the scene, and that's despite how the entire image gets an exposure boost. It also helps the Razr Ultra that details look a smidge sharper too.
Winner: Razr Ultra (2025)
Now at 10x zoom, this is where it gets interesting because this is where Samsung's updated ProVisual Engine works its magic to draw out more detail from the shot. I prefer the Razr Ultra's better contrast, but the Z Flip 7 combs over the entire shot and pulls in more detail — like the leaves on the tree and the poster on the lamp in the upper right corner.
I can clearly read what the poster is showing, including the text on it, whereas the Razr Ultra's shot isn't as defined.
Winner: Galaxy Z Flip 7
With the sun setting over the horizon, I captured the shots above to see how they handle the shadowed areas of the beach. Right away, I'm honestly shocked that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 has a much softer and lower contrast look. Yeah, the entire scene has an even exposure, but the Razr Ultra (2025) photo is emphasized by its stronger contrast.
The grassy area in the foreground is proof of this, as it does a substantially better job at exposing individual blades of grass. There's also more detail in the sand near the middle, while the clouds don't suffer from the noisier look that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 casts with its shot.
Winner: Razr Ultra (2025)
Motorola Razr Ultra (2025)
Galaxy Z Flip 7
Daytime
X
Ultrawide
X
Colors
X
Selfie
X
Portrait
X
Panorama
X
Macro
X
2X zoom
X
10X zoom
X
Low light
X
Total
6
4
In this round, the Motorola Razr Ultra (2025) takes the checkered flag for winning more of the categories — but I do plan on covering a more comprehensive look at their performances with a proper 200 photo shootout. This is a big victory for the Razr Ultra (2025), seeing that past Razrs have always fallen short against Samsung's flip phones.
Needless to say I'm shocked that Samsung doesn't come out on top here, but things could change the more photos I take with the two phones to really get a feel for how they handle. Samsung's historically been better at low light, so I'm surprised by how it comes up short here. I'll need to get more shots to see if it's indeed the better camera phone, but this one's a big win for Motorola.