You should also know that the Samsung outer screen only runs at 60Hz, while the Motorola one supports a buttery smooth 165Hz refresh rate. We are not sure how much of a benefit that is — the external screen is definitely there for quick "at a glance" data and interaction... We guess Motorola mostly did that for bragging rights.
As for the main screen, the Motorola has a slightly larger one at 6.9 inches vs 6.7 inches on the Galaxy, and both of them use this tall and weird 22 by 9 aspect ratio. Both are OLED, both have 1080p resolution and a fast refresh rate (120Hz on Galaxy vs 165Hz on the Razr Plus).
The one compromise that Motorola has made with the Razr Plus is that the phone is equipped with the previous year's top chip, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, while the Galaxy Z Flip 5 uses the newer and slightly more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (Made for Galaxy edition).Does this matter? Well, yes and no. Both of those chips are flagship ones and have plenty of performance, so for the majority of users a few percentage points will probably make no noticeable difference, but for those who care about having the best performance, or for gamers, the Galaxy will have an upper hand.
Performance Benchmarks:
With 8GB of RAM on board we have parity. We are also glad to see that both the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr Plus come with 256GB of storage in the base model.
We should also mention the software. Both phones run Android 13, but it looks different. The Motorola goes with a clean-looking Android interface that only adds a few quite useful gestures, chop-chop to start the flashlight, twist the phone to start the camera, and so on. The Galaxy, on the other hand, uses Samsung's One UI, which completely changes the way Android looks on the device, invites you to use split screen with easily-accessible shortcuts to activate it, and opens the gate to connect to the Samsung ecosystem.
Samsung also has the upper hand with software updates. The Galaxy Flip 5 is expected to get four years of major OS updates compared to just three years on the Motorola.Camera
Is there a meaningful difference in camera quality?
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
Both the Galaxy Flip 5 and Razr Plus feature a dual camera system with a wide and an ultra-wide lens, and there is no telephoto zoom lens on either one.The flip phone form factor does not allow for much space for large sensors, so both these phones have smaller physical sensors than traditional, candybar style phones.
When we reviewed the Razr+, we noted that the camera may not be exquisite, but was still pretty good and dependable for memorabilia capture.
Main Camera - Day
In typical fashion, Samsung just loves to boost the colors in these photos. They certainly produce that "Wow!" factor on first viewing, but if you are trying to capture a more realistic, tame image, you are going to have a hard time. Then again, the Razr+ isn't shy to push that vibrancy slider up as well. What we do notice, however, is that Samsung's HDR does a much better job at boosting the shadows. So, in highly dynamic scenes, it is definitely better.
Main Camera - Low-light
We see much of the same in low light — the Samsung boosts both exposure and colors. Though, the Razr+ held it together very well here and we kind of prefer the realism in those photos. However, again, for an instantly-shareable social media photo, the Flip 5 amps those colors so they pop out of the screen.
Zoom Quality
These phones are definitely not zoom kings. Here, we can see that, at 3x, the Flip 5 kind of holds it together well — the picture is definitely soft, but it's usable. The Razr+ image is kind of falling apart, with burnt highlights and very blurred details. At 10x, both of these are... not great. You can probably use that zoom level to take a reference shot of something you can't see with the naked eye, but you won't be sharing those. Yes, the Flip 5 10x picture looks slightly better at first look, but that's only because it used an obscene amount of software sharpening — spend a second on the photo and it starts looking like a painting. That's not to say the Razr+ 10x photo is better — it's "all a blur" just like last Saturday night...
Ultra-wide Camera
We can spot much the same performance from the ultra-wide cameras. Again, the Flip 5 images are brighter and more colorful. We also notice the Z Flip 5 has a slightly wider angle and employs more sharpening. The Razr+ ultra-wide shots are definitely softer — we'd even call the details blurry towards the edge of the framing.
Selfies
There are two ways to take selfies with these phones — either use the front-facing camera above the main screen, or fold the phone and use the external screen as a viewfinder to take a higher-quality selfie with the main camera that ends up staring at your mug.
The performance of the front-facing cameras is very similar, even though we are talking about 10MP on the Samsung vs 32MP on the Motorola. We can spot that the Galaxy uses a bit more sharpening. Also, the Razr+ gave us a bit more blur in the background, for a slight natural bokeh.
With the main camera selfies, we see that massive color boost from the Flip 5 make everything orange. The Razr+, on the other hand, washed away some facial features, maybe due to an overzealous noise reduction?Video Quality
At 4K video, both phones capture a good amount of detail, but colors on the Galaxy are more vibrant and it does a better job with exposure, while the Razr Plus captures slightly bleaker colors and can occasionally shoot a darker than ideal exposure. Video stabilization is also an issue on the Razr Plus, you can see the footage wobbles quite a bit, while the Galaxy does a much better job.
In low light, the video quality difference is much more dramatic and in favor of the Flip 5. The Motorola Razr Plus shakes and jitters noticeably, and it has this weird pulsating effect, plus the exposure is darker, you have less detail in the shadows and colors are on the bleaker side.
Audio Quality and Haptics
The Razr Plus has well-balanced loudspeaker quality with a dual speaker system, but it does not get very loud.The Galaxy Z Flip 5 on the other hand gets just a bit boomier, but neither of these two phones goes beyond expectations for sound quality.
Neither phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, in case you were wondering.
As for haptic feedback, these phones click accurately and responsively, underlining every action we do on the display. Both are good at it!
Battery Life and Charging
The Razr has a slightly larger battery and faster charging
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
With a 3,800mAh battery, the Motorola Razr Plus has one of the largest batteries among flip phones, while the Galaxy uses a slightly smaller, 3,700mAh battery.However, don't forget the newer and more power-efficient chip on the Galaxy, which might give it an edge.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
Interestingly enough, the Motorola absolutely crushed our YouTube streaming test — we are led to believe that the company is adept at optimizing for YouTube, as this is not the first time the brand showcases long battery endurance in this particular area.
For regular web browsing, we'd say both phones "feel" like they perform about the same, but here our test shows that the Flip 5 will squeeze a couple of extra hours of non-stop online article reading. As for gaming, the Flip 5 is again slightly better, but they are more or less on par.
And when it comes to charging, we have a 25W charging speed on the Galaxy and a faster, 30W charging rate on the Razr.
Both phones also support wireless charging, but here the Galaxy can hit 10W wireless charging with Samsung's homemade charging pads, whereas the Razr+ is locked to 5W.
So how fast do these charge in real life? Let's take a look.
Charging Test Results:
As you can see the Razr definitely has the upper hand when it comes to charging speeds on the wire. With wireless, you can expect better performance from the Flip 5, if you invest in a Samsung Fast Wireless Charger, too.
Specs Comparison
| Specs | Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 | Motorola Razr Plus (2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Size and Weight | Folded: 85.1 x 71.9 x 15.1 mm Unfolded: 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm Weight:189 g | Folded: 88.4 x 74 x 15.1 mm Unfolded: 170.8 x 74 x 7 mm Weight:189 g |
| Displays | 3.4-inch Cover Screen 60Hz 6.7-inch main screen | 3.6-inch Cover Screen 165Hz 6.9-inch main screen |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 8/256 GB 8/512 GB | 8/256 GB |
| Software | Android 13 with One UI 5 | Android 13 |
| Cameras | 12MP Wide, f/1.8 12MP Ultra-wide, f/2.2 10MP selfie | 12MP wide, f/1.5 13MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 32MP selfie |
| Battery Size | 3,700 mAh | 3,800 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 25W wired charge 10W wireless | 30W wired charge 5W wireless |
Summary and Final Verdict
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
The Motorola Razr+ (2023) has really shaken things up in what was a very quiet flip phone space. It's an excellent phone! And the fact that you can open any app on that external screen really changes the way you use and interact with the phone — it now requires much less commitment if you are just responding to a quick message, ordering food, or checking your email. The Razr+ will also has that vegan leather finish, which will give you a break from the glass sandwich phone design, if you feel like you want something new.But has Samsung caught up? The larger outer screen is the main improvement, but it's a bit more finnicky and not as straightforward. It's basically a big widget screen, and while Samsung has provided a good first batch of widgets, it's up to developers to grab the API and make their apps compatible with the Flip 5. But, on the other hand, we do find the Flip 5's camera to be better than the Razr+'s.
Then again, the Samsung phones also have a bigger ecosystem to play in with the Galaxy Watches, Buds, and Samsung's plethora of smart home appliances.At the end of the day, for the average user who wants a good modern flip phone, both of these seem like they will fit the bill.
The reason to pick the Motorola would be the slightly more functional and larger outer screen, sleek rounded-off design with the new finish options, and the vanilla Android experience. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 will open the gates to the Samsung software experience, smarttags, DeX, slightly better camera, and more focus on multitasking.So... which one would you go for and why?
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