Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Motorola Razr+: Which foldable phone is for you?

This article is part of our series?Battle of the Brands, in which we compare category-leading products to their counterparts to determine which are actually worth your money.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is by far one of the best flip phones to ever ship, but it doesn’t live in a vacuum. Earlier this year, Motorola released the new Razr+, which gives the Z Flip some of the stiffest competition it’s ever faced in its brief history.

Both have grabbed the attention of many smartphone buyers with big, new cover screens, better performance and updated designs. They share the same $1,000 price tag, they come from two of the biggest names in tech and they have a lot in common. The question is, which one should you buy?

Let’s dive in and see which flip-style foldable is right for you.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Motorola Razr+ at a glance

Quick comparison

Similar designs, different hinges

It’s no secret that Samsung and Motorola are good at making phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Razr+ are two beautiful handsets, each with key design characteristics to help them stand out from each other. For example, the Z Flip 5 has boxier, flat sides, while the Razr+ opts for curved sides and rounded edges.

It’s one of the only ways you can tell one from the other when the phones aren’t turned on, as everything from their cameras and LED flash to the volume and power buttons are in the same positions. They’re also roughly the same weight (the Z Flip 5 is technically 2 ounces lighter than the Razr+), and they’re the same thickness.

Of course, if you turn the devices over to the back, you’ll find two different glass finishes, with Samsung choosing glossy, while Motorola went with frosted. The colors are also pretty different: The Z Flip comes in Mint, Graphite, Cream and Lavender (with Samsung exclusive colors gray, blue, green and yellow), while the Razr+ comes in Infinite Black, Glacier Blue and a vegan leather-covered Viva Magenta. In addition, the Razr+ is slightly taller than the Z Flip 5 on account of its larger flipping display but only marginally so.

The biggest physical differences can be found in two key areas: the hinges and durability.

Both phones use a teardrop-style hinge that folds the display flatter than past folding phones, minimizing the gap between the display significantly. Motorola does this well on the Razr+, as its gap is nearly impossible to see, but it’s still there. If you want a completely gap-less flip phone, you have to go with the Z Flip 5; Samsung’s hinge design is slightly better than Motorola’s and allows the device to fold completely in half with no gap in sight.

The Z Flip 5’s hinge also feels better to use. It’s a lot smoother than that of the Razr+ and can stop at any angle you want, no matter how wide or narrow. The Razr+ is limited to stopping between 45 degrees and 135 degrees, which limits the versatility of its form factor.

In terms of durability, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Samsung’s phone received an IPX8 certification, while Motorola’s is IP52. This means the Z Flip 5 is totally fine if it’s submerged in water (the “8” represents its water resistance, which is excellent for any phone) but is still susceptible to damage from small particles like dirt or dust (hence the “X”). Meanwhile, the Razr+ is fine against dirt and dust (indicated by the excellent score of “5”) but will be lucky to survive a quick splash of water or trip through a rainstorm (the “2” is a lot lower than what the Z Flip got). I wish one of them had some combination of the two ratings, but that’s not the case. If you care about durability, you’ll want to keep this in mind.

TL;DR: Both phones have great designs, but if you want the best hinge, you’ll want to check out the Z Flip 5. For those worried about sand or dirt damaging their phone, the Razr+ is worth exploring.

Bigger cover screens for the win

The big pitch for flip phones in 2023 is their inclusion of much larger cover displays. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 has the most dramatic upgrade in this department, going from 1.9 inches on the Z Flip 4 to a much more spacious 3.4 inches. It almost covers the entire front of the device and, in turn, lets you do more stuff. There are much bigger widgets for checking your calendar and the weather, you have more room to see your notifications, you can respond to text messages without opening your phone and you can take selfies with the rear cameras with a better idea of your framing.

The Razr+ takes a very similar approach. While the glow-up isn’t as dramatic as the Z Flip’s, going from 2.7 inches on the previous Razr to 3.6 inches, it’s still a major upgrade in every way. You get those larger widgets with more information on them, the ability to reply to messages, better framing for selfies, better notification management and more.

You can also run full-fledged apps on each cover screen, with the devices taking different approaches to them. While Motorola lets you run any app you want straight out of the box, you have to tweak the Z Flip 5 a bit to run more apps than the ones Samsung certified as compatible. Once you do that, you can fire up any app you want, regardless of whether it fits on the cover screen or not.

Samsung’s display stops short of the rear cameras so the content isn’t cut off, while Motorola lets you extend whatever you’re looking at behind the cameras for a more immersive experience. This obviously can get in the way if there’s a button you need to hit near the bottom of the display, so you have the option to enable a fake bezel and keep all the content above the camera lenses.

If you want to keep the clockface on at all times, only one of these phones will let you, and that’s the Z Flip 5. I have no idea why the Razr+ doesn’t give you an always-on mode for the cover, but it is what it is. At least you can customize either device’s clockface to your liking, from different fonts and colors to custom backgrounds.

Finally, let’s talk specs: The 3.4-inch AMOLED panel on the Z Flip 5 has a resolution of 728 x 740 and a 60Hz refresh rate, while the 3.6-inch pOLED panel on the Razr+ comes with a 1066 x 1056 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. Technically speaking, the Razr+ looks and feels a lot better to use, but you’ll get the same functionality out of the Z Flip 5.

These big cover screens mean you don’t have to open your phone that often to get things done, which can greatly improve your relationship with your smartphone and make you less addicted to doomscrolling. If you just want to check a notification or respond to a text, you can do that without opening them and being tempted to hit those colorful Instagram and TikTok icons. If you want to check the score of a game you’re tracking or mark something off your to-do list, you can do that too. I love this aspect of modern-day flip phones, and I’m happy to report you’ll get a nearly identical experience from both of these devices.

TL;DR: The Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Razr+ both come with huge cover screens with similar feature sets, and that’s a win for everyone.

Beautiful displays, fast performance and solid software

It’s safe to say that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Razr+ each come with a fantastic main display, speedy performance and a well-optimized software experience.

The Z Flip 5 keeps the same 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display as the Z Flip 4, complete with a 2640 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s bright, it’s vivid, it has some of the best contrasts between bright and dark visuals — it’s a Samsung panel, in other words. Samsung has been in the game for quite some time, and it knows what it’s doing when it comes to screen quality.

The Razr+ is no slouch either. The 6.9-inch AMOLED panel it includes also has a 2640 x 1080 resolution, vibrant colors and inky blacks. It also comes with a faster 165Hz refresh rate. Side by side with the Z Flip 5, you can see a very slight improvement in how smoothly content flows across the screen, thanks to that faster rate, but it’s no reason to buy the Razr+ over the Z Flip.

The most notable difference between the screens (besides their sizes) is their peak brightness. Motorola locks it at 1,400 nits on the Razr+, while Samsung increases it on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to 1,750 nits. You won’t be reaching either peak too often, but the extra headroom comes in handy when you’re out in direct sunlight, and anyone who’s regularly in that situation will be partial to the Z Flip 5.

Oh, and there are still visible creases on both phones. We’re not going to see a creaseless folding phone for at least another few years, so you’ll have to get used to it. For me, it blends into the background pretty quickly once I start using the devices.

wUnder the hood, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, a slightly more powerful version of the standard 8 Gen 2 that’s made its way into many flagship phones this year. It’s the best chipset you’ll find in an Android phone today, with fantastic everyday performance and plenty of prowess to handle heavier loads like multitasking and gaming. I’ve never seen this phone stutter once during my testing, which is saying something — I put my phones through the wringer (it’s my job after all).

But I can also say the same thing about the Razr+, and instead of the latest and greatest chip from Qualcomm, it has last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Why the older chip? It’s likely to save a few dollars on production since the newest processors are always the most expensive. Plus, the 8 Gen 1 is plenty powerful for every type of user, and the only time you’ll ever notice a difference between it and the 8 Gen 2 is when you run benchmark tests.

As you can see, the Razr+ is slightly behind what the Z Flip 5 is capable of in Geekbench 6, but that doesn’t mean you’ll feel that difference in real life. Only over time will that difference in power show its face, and even that isn’t guaranteed.

You get 8GB of RAM in the Z Flip 5 and up to 12GB of RAM in the Razr+, which will help to keep more tasks open in the background. Both phones come standard with 256GB of storage, which can be doubled to 512GB on the Z Flip 5 if you want. Overall, there’s no lack of horsepower in either of these phones, and you’ll be impressed with the performance regardless of which you pick up.

The same goes for software. While both devices take different approaches with their skins — the Z Flip 5 runs Samsung’s One UI 5.1.1, while the Razr+ has Motorola’s My UX on top of Android 13 — they’re each fast, responsive and well optimized for their unique form factors.

One UI has always been geared toward shipping everything but the kitchen sink, and that continues on the Z Flip 5. Blended with Samsung’s unique aesthetic, you’ll find features like the Edge panel for switching apps, split-screen multitasking, Modes and Routines for automating your phone’s notification settings and more scattered throughout the system.

Meanwhile, Motorola takes on a stock-like appearance in My UX with the company’s suite of custom features on top. Their signature gestures like a double-chop to turn on the flashlight and a double-twist to open the camera are here, as is Peak Display for quickly checking the time and your notifications. It’s a much simpler experience compared to One UI, but it works and feels great.

Both systems also come with a handful of features that play nicely with the foldable screen. Apps can take advantage of a split-screen interface that shows content on the top half and special controls on the bottom, you can bend either phone slightly and hold them like camcorders to take photos and videos, and you can prop up the rear cameras for hands-free selfies. These features are the lifeblood of the foldable form factor: Without them, they’d just be standard phones that fold in half, and it’s nice to see both the Razr+ and Z Flip 5 execute them without any weird bugs to hold them back.

As far as software support goes, Samsung is promising four years of major system updates and five years of security patches for the Z Flip 5. Meanwhile, the Razr+ sits one year lower at three years of system updates and four years of security patches. Each of these upgrade paths are plenty long enough for most consumers, so you won’t have to worry about getting the latest features if you decide to buy one phone over the other.

TL;DR: With the exception of a few key differences, you’ll get a great display, performance and software on both the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Razr+.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 takes the camera crown

Cameras on foldables still take a back seat to regular slab phones when it comes to quality, but they’re quickly starting to catch up. If you want the flip phone with the best cameras, get the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

The phone’s 12-megapixel main camera, coupled with a 12-megapixel, 123-degree ultrawide lens, can take some really solid photos in broad daylight and in dimmer settings. They’re the same cameras as the Z Flip 4, so they still tend to oversaturate things and struggle in low light, but for a flip phone, they’re pretty solid.

On the other hand, the Razr+ is a tricky phone to get a good photo with. The 12-megapixel main camera is decent enough for broad daylight and well-lit rooms, offering a decent mix of contrast and good color reproduction. However, the 13-megapixel, 108-degree ultrawide struggles to keep up with its counterpart, often failing to capture as much light and detail. At night, both cameras can whack out pretty quickly with strange color tuning and tints. Details are also lost and mushed together to form a complete picture.

I also like the video quality on the Z Flip 5. Both phones can capture 4K video at 60 frames per second (fps) — 30 fps if you use their ultrawide cameras — and the clips I’ve recorded during my testing are often more stable and have a less processed feel to them.

That’s actually how I’d sum up the Z Flip 5’s camera versus the Razr+’s: less processed. There’s something about how Motorola tuned its cameras that rubs me the wrong way. Each photo I take just comes out kind of icky, whereas the same photos captured on the Z Flip 5 are more appealing to look at and ready to share on social media.

At least you get good photo-capturing experiences on both phones. Like I said earlier, you can take selfies using either device’s cover screen, you can prop them up for hands-free selfies, you can use them in camcorder mode and you can use the external displays as viewfinders for your subjects so they know how they look. Samsung and Motorola also include simple, easy-to-use camera apps on their phones with full-blown pro modes for dialing in the right settings before tapping the shutter button.

TL;DR: While the Razr+’s cameras aren’t terrible, they’re simply no match for the Galaxy Z Flip 5.

The Razr+ has better battery life and charging speed

The battery size difference between the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Razr+ isn’t very much. The former comes with the same 3,700mAh cell as last year, while the latter ships with a 3,800mAh cell. But in day-to-day use, I’ve found the Razr+ lasts a bit longer on a full charge.

At the end of a 16-hour day filled with email checking, social media scrolling and lots of picture taking, I’d regularly be down to roughly 20% on the Razr+. That’s compared to the 15% marker I’d regularly see on my Z Flip 5 with the same usage. In our battery test where we loop a 4K video at 50% brightness with airplane mode on, the Razr+ lasted 14 hours and 42 minutes, while the Z Flip 5 lasted 14 hours and 33 minutes.

Again, it’s not very significant, but the Razr+ will last you a bit longer when fully charged.

When it’s time to juice back up, the Razr+ will do so faster than the Z Flip 5. Over USB-C, you can reach a peak of 30W with Motorola’s device, while Samsung’s is capped off at 25W. On the flip side, Samsung has Moto beat when it comes to wireless charging: The Flip 5 can reach 15W, whereas the Razr+ stops at 5W.

TL;DR: Neither phone will give you issues with battery life during the day, but if you want the phone that lasts the longest, get the Razr+.

Bottom line

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Razr+ are the two best flip phones on the market, each with their own respective ups and downs.

If you’re deciding between the two, you’ll hear plenty of people tell you to just get the Z Flip 5. It’s arguably a better phone with a sturdier hinge, a newer processor, better cameras and longer software support.

However, I think there’s a place for the Razr+. Those who want a more unique design, the ability to run apps on the cover screen out of the box, longer battery life, a bigger folding screen and cleaner software will enjoy what Motorola has to offer. Plus, you get dust resistance, which is a big deal for a folding phone.

At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with either of these phones. Samsung and Motorola have stepped up their games once again, and the latest fruits of their labors are forces to be reckoned with. Keep in mind their differences when it comes time to pick one up, and you’ll dig the device that lands in your pocket.