Motorola Razr Ultra vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: Comparing Each Flip Phone

CNET

2 days ago

Motorola's $1,300 Razr Ultra is making a big splash with its spring debut, featuring the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor along with case materials that include wood or Alcantara fabric. But that high price also stands above the similarly shaped Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 that starts at $1,100, which runs on last year's still-speedy Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
While price is an important factor -- especially in these tariff-conscious times -- both of these flip phones include powerful processors, high-end screens and come in a variety of colors, too.
Watch this: Review: We Take the $1,300 Razr Ultra for a Spin
07:30
So let's compare a few of the most important differences between the Razr Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 6, as it's likely that choosing the best flip phone between these options will come down to a few specific preferences.
But the TL;DR that I can tell you right now: If you are looking for a stylish and powerful option that you'll move on from in four years or less, go for the Razr Ultra. However if you want a phone that's still quite powerful and that you can use until it's broken, the Z Flip 6 will likely be the better investment for your money.
The Motorola Razr Ultra comes in a variety of finishes including Alcantara (left) and wood (middle).
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Design
Design may be the most immediately obvious way that Motorola's Razr Ultra shows off its $200 price difference from its more affordable rival. The flip-style phone comes in four color options from Pantone, and half of them also use unique case materials. The Mountain Trail variant has a wooden back, while the Scarab edition uses a dark Italian Alcantara fabric that is stitched along with vegan leather. The Razr Ultra also comes in Rio Red and Cabaret, which are red and magenta hues, respectively.
While the Z Flip 6 sticks to a more traditional metal body, Samsung does include a rainbow of color options to choose from. The seven hues on Samsung's website are Crafted Black, Peach, White, Yellow, Mint, Silver Shadow and Blue models.
The Razr Ultra also has larger screens than the Z Flip 6, including a 4-inch cover screen when folded and a 7-inch interior screen when unfolded. Motorola's Ultra has an obscenely high 165Hz refresh rate on both screens, meaning that both screens will animate quite smoothly.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 while closed.
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The Z Flip 6 has a 3.4-inch cover screen and a 6.7-inch interior screen, with the former running at a 60Hz refresh rate and the latter at a smoother 120Hz.
While both phones can use nearly any Android app from the cover screen, the Razr Ultra might take the advantage here because its larger screen gives apps more space.
However the Z Flip 6 might be easier to use when unfolded exactly because its slightly smaller screen is more comfortable to hold than the Razr Ultra, whose 7-inch screen felt absolutely massive when I tried it out at Motorola's press preview. That said, for some people, the larger screen could be a more desirable option if you plan to use the Ultra for lots of videos and gaming.
It's worth noting that at this point, six years after the first Motorola Razr and Galaxy Z Flip came out, clamshell foldables have pretty reliable durability. Both of these phones' successors refined their designs until today, where we can trust that the flexible inner screens of either the new Razr Ultra or Galaxy Z Flip 6 can be counted on to last for years of use.
The Razr Ultra includes three 50-megapixel cameras: A wide and ultrawide on its exterior screen and a selfie camera on its interior screen.
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Cameras
The Razr Ultra's higher price is also reflected in the camera specs, with Motorola touting the phone as the first flip-style foldable to include a triple 50-megapixel camera system. But don't expect to see a telephoto camera with that claim, as Motorola is referring to the wide, ultrawide and selfie lenses -- compared to other clamshell foldables, the latter front-facing camera got an upgrade.
The Z Flip 6 steps down slightly, with a 50-megapixel wide lens and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. On the inside is a 10-megapixel selfie camera.
Megapixels are far from the entire story for photos, though, and we haven't yet had the chance to fully test out the Motorola Razr Ultra's photography chops. However, both Motorola and Samsung tout that artificial intelligence plays a major role in photo processing.
The photo was taken on the Z Flip 6, and Galaxy AI was used to add this catlike creature into it.
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Motorola's Moto AI includes a feature called Signature Style, which scans your photos to make suggested color and contrast tweaks based on the context of your photo. This includes details like the lighting conditions along with the subject, such as whether you are taking a photo of a friend or a picture of your dinner.
Samsung meanwhile promotes the many ways you can change your photos using Galaxy AI, which include a Sketch to Image feature where you can generate elements such as birds in the sky or decorative elements to walls by doodling them yourself.
Moto AI is a mix of Motorola's own AI service as well as integrations from the likes of Meta, Microsoft, Google and others.
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Software Support and AI
While both the Razr Ultra and the Z Flip 6 run on Android 15, there is a major difference between the two in software and security support. Despite the high price, Motorola is currently pledging three years of major software updates and four years of security updates. Meanwhile Samsung is pledging a total of seven years from last summer's launch, which means that if you buy the phone in 2025 you'll still get six years of support from Samsung.
Whether this matters to you depends on how often you like to buy a new phone. If you'll almost certainly pine for the next latest and greatest device in four years or less, then the Razr Ultra could still be a purchase that matches up with your needs. However if you want to make sure you can use your phone until you wear it out, then Samsung's longer commitment could stretch your dollar further, barring the possibility of purchasing a battery replacement to help extend the phone's life.
The Interpreter mode on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 can assist in multi-lingual conversations.
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Both Samsung and Motorola include their own AI suites, dubbed Galaxy AI and Moto AI, respectively. Samsung's take includes a variety of transcription, language translation and writing tools that are intended to provide proactive communication assistance. Meanwhile, Motorola has partnered with Perplexity, Meta's Llama AI and Microsoft Copilot to power features like Next Move, for providing suggestions based on what you are doing on your screen, and Catch Me Up, for summarizing notifications from various texting apps. Both phones also include access to Google's Gemini assistant and Circle to Search.
Motorola Razr Ultra vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 spec comparison
Check out more details between the Razr Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in the spec chart below, and if you want a deeper dive, check out our Motorola Razr Ultra first impressions and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review.