Samsung and Motorola will be competing with their new foldables later in 2022, but early reports indicate Samsung will once again take the lead.
The Motorola Razr 3 is one of two foldable clamshell phones confirmed to launch in 2022 but will it be able to take on its closest rival, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4? Motorola has been missing from the foldable smartphone scene for more than a year. Its last model was the Razr 5G, released in Sept. 2020. However, an announcement from a Lenovo executive in December of 2021 revealed that a new Razr model would launch in 2022.
Despite Lenovo/Motorola’s early foray into the foldable smartphone market, its portfolio is small compared to fellow early pioneers such as Samsung and Huawei. In addition, all of its foldable phones have a clamshell-style design. In contrast, Samsung and Huawei have both clamshell-style foldables and models that unfold into tablet sizes.
Multiple leaks have surfaced in the run-up to the release of both phones, revealing that Motorola and Samsung are planning upgrades for their next-gen foldable flip phones. However, an examination of existing details shows the Motorola Razr 3 might not be a match for the Galaxy Z Flip 4. A recent leak from Weibo user Digital Chat Station disclosed some of the key specs of the Razr 3, and according to him, the phone will have a 6.7-inch FHD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a centered hole punch for a 32MP front-facing camera. In addition, Motorola has added a 50MP primary sensor and a 13MP secondary sensor for the rear cameras, most likely with an ultrawide lens. The leak also mentions it will have a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, 12GB of RAM and a 2800mAh battery.
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On the other hand, reports have revealed the Galaxy Z Flip 4 will also have a 6.7-inch main display with an FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Samsung is also using the same Qualcomm chipset as Motorola but with 8GB of RAM and the option for 128GB or 256GB of storage. The camera specs will be carried over from the previous generation, which means a 10MP selfie camera and dual 12MP rear cameras. However, the most significant upgrade is the battery capacity, bumped from 3300mAh to 3700mAh, and the charging speed has been upgraded from 15W to 25W. If these specs are accurate, the Razr 3 has the better cameras (on paper) and more RAM. Unfortunately, it gets decimated by the Galaxy Z Flip 4 in terms of battery capacity. The 2800mAh battery, identical to that of the 2020 Razr 5G, pales in comparison to the 3700mAh battery capacity of Samsung’s phone. It is even a far cry from the 3300mAh battery of the Galaxy Z Flip 3, which the review shows are one of the phone’s weaknesses. It’s surprising why Motorola would ship the phone with such a small battery since the screen is now bigger compared to the 6.2-inch display of its predecessor.
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Another area where the Galaxy Z Flip 4 will likely have the upper hand is its pricing. Motorola will sell the Razr 3 for €1,149 in Europe, as reported by CompareDial, and while that price is lower than the €1,399 price tag of the Razr 5G, it is still higher than the €1099/$999 launch price of the Galaxy Z Flip 3. Therefore, if Samsung decides to keep the same pricing for the Galaxy Z Flip 4, it will undercut the Razr 3. Of course, Motorola’s pricing can be justified with better cameras and more RAM. However, its battery life will be a significant determinant for buyers. In addition, Samsung has better software support than Motorola. As an example, the Razr 5G is yet to receive the update to Android 12, although it has been confirmed it is eligible for the OS upgrade. So while the Razr 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 will launch with Android 12 out of the box, Samsung’s promise of 4 OS upgrades and five years of security updates will give it an extra point over Motorola’s foldable phone.
