The 3rd generation Moto foldable is heading west, with all the power of Snapdragon.
Foldable phone fans who don’t live in China (or are friends with a gray market importer) will finally be able to get their hands on the 2022 Moto Razr starting today. The high-end folding is finally on sale in Europe, for the trifle of 1200 €.
The closest rival to Samsung’s Galaxy Flip 4, but which will therefore be more expensive than its competitor back home, went on sale in China in August, drawing its power from the latest Snapdragon silicon and packing a mighty pair of rear cameras. The price starts from 5999 yuan (about 800 €) at home, but the cost has therefore increased well for the international debut of the phone. It is still unclear if he will head to the United States.
Much like the original Razr and Razr 5G, this third-generation phone combines a small outer display with a larger, foldable inner display – only here Moto has ditched the ugly notch of its predecessors. The Razr 2022 has a 6.7-inch display that covers the entire interior of the handset. On the menu: 10-bit colour, HDR10+ video playback and a whopping 144Hz refresh rate. That’s more than you’ll find on any other foldable. Moto reckons it’s minimized the screen crease’s visibility by using a hinge mechanism that bends the flexible OLED panel into a teardrop shape.
This hinge can hold the phone half open, so you can use it as a small tripod for hands-free photos, or tilted to watch videos without having to prop it up or buy a stand. Motorola is also promising Dolby Atmos sound, so the built-in speakers should pack a punch.
On the outside, the 2.7-inch external display gets a handful of new widgets, which should mean you don’t have to open the phone as often as you did with the previous generation model. It’s flanked by two cameras: a 50MP main with optical image stabilization and a 13MP ultrawide with autofocus – which Moto says is good for macro shooting as well as wide-angle shots. There’s also a 32 MP punch-hole camera inside for selfies and video calls.
Power comes from a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It’s a big step up from the outgoing phone, which used a decidedly intermediate processor, but a step down from the China-only variant, which had 12GB and 512GB of memory and storage, respectively. .
That said, a 3500mAh battery is a welcome step up from the previous generation, which suffered from relatively short battery life away from mains power. Expect 33W wired charging. It runs Android 12 out of the box, with no word on when an upgrade to Android 13 will arrive.