The Motorola Razr Fold is one of my favorite smartphones of 2026 so far. As Motorola’s first book-style foldable, it’s under a whole bunch of scrutiny, not least because it’s launching after the fantastic Honor Magic V6, and before the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8.

It’s a great all-around device, but one feature I wasn’t expecting to love so much is the external display. Now, every foldable comes with a useful external screen, but the Motorola Razr Fold is one of the best I’ve used — so much so that I’ve probably spent more time using it folded than not, and that’s saying something.

The Razr Fold’s external display means you can use it like a regular smartphone

It might be heavier, but man, it feels good

I’ve used a few book-style foldables over the years. I’ve had a Tecno Phantom V Fold2, Samsung Z Fold 5, and an Honor Magic V5, and used other foldables across the major tech shows each year at CES, MWC, and IFA. They all have strong points and are broadly good (and even great) to use.

But the Razr Fold is different to me. It’s the first foldable I’ve used extensively where I’ve spent more time with the screen closed than open, yet haven’t really felt like I’m compromising my experience in the slightest.

That’s because the Motorola Razr Fold’s external screen is a beast. It measures 6.6 inches, runs at 165Hz, has a resolution of 1080 x 2520 pixels, and has a whopping 6,000 nits peak brightness. It’s basically a screen you’d expect to power any other device, yet in this case, it’s the Razr Fold’s secondary screen.

SoC

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5

RAM

16GB

Storage

512GB

Battery

6,000mAh silicon-carbon

Operating System

Android 16

Front camera

32MP external, 20MP internal

The Motorola Razr Fold is a formidable challenger to Google and Samsung foldables in the U.S., complete with a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery and stylus support. It packs slick Pantone colorways and an 8.1-inch foldable OLED display. Plus, it can charge at a whopping 80W over a cable and at 50W wirelessly. You can pre-order it starting May 14, with full retail availability beginning May 21.

You can run anything on the Razr Fold front screen

Motorola has always given its front screens lots of use

It looks sublime and is ultra-responsive. But more than that, Motorola has fully committed to the external screen, and every application, widget, and feature also works just as they would on the 8.1-inch unfolded screen. In fact, certain apps work better on the more standardized screen sizing compared to the unfolded option; the Reddit app’s image handling comes to mind here.

But full-app support means exactly that, without really any compromise. I’ve been using the Razr Fold front-screen for email, WhatsApp, Netflix, Slack, Discover, and anything else in between, switching to the larger, unfolded screen when I feel it’s required rather than a necessity to access all the features.

It’s also great for focus; tapping out a quick response on the “regular” screen size is much faster than unfolding. I’m also super keen on using the secondary screen for watching movies and shows, at least until I can get my hands on a decent Motorola Razr Fold case with a built-in stand.

In that, switching into tent mode also works a charm without any noticeable issues or lag between switching. All of your widgets make the jump over, too, and it’s a seamless experience that, to me, shows Motorola has really thought about the closed state of the Razr Fold as much as the unfolded.

Front-screen photography is super useful

With Motorola’s customary kids-display

The Razr Fold comes equipped with a really decent 32MP front snapper, which puts it right up there in terms of overall image quality. For comparison, Apple’s iPhone 17 series uses an 18MP selfie cam, Samsung’s S26 series uses a 12MP selfie cam, and even the highly-rated Honor Magic V6 uses a 20MP front-facing camera.

It’s primed to deliver high-quality, self-shot images, which, if we’re being honest, is really great. Who doesn’t love a selfie?!

But the rear camera setup is where it gets interesting. With the Razr Fold closed, you can use the triple 50MP system — main, ultrawide, and 3x periscope telephoto — with the cover screen as your viewfinder. That’s main camera quality for selfies, which is an entirely different league from what a dedicated front-facing sensor typically delivers. If you’ve ever envied the results someone got with a rear camera selfie and wondered how they framed it, this is how.

There’s also Frame Match, which I must admit, I’d not really used before I picked up the Razr Fold. The idea behind this is that you position yourself, take a guide shot, then hand the phone to someone else. They see a live overlay of your guide photo on the viewfinder, allowing them to capture the image you have in your mind.

Oh, and Motorola’s kid-friendly camera mode also returns to the cover screen. Basically, if you’ve not seen this before, Motorola’s Razr series (the flips, and now the fold) can put an animated character on the cover screen to keep kids entertained and eyes towards the camera. My kids are too big for this now, but I can absolutely see how useful this is.

The cover screen is the Motorola Razr Fold’s best feature

I’ve been using the Razr Fold for a couple of weeks now. I left my Honor Magic V5 behind to make the switch, a phone that I’d been using almost exclusively for months, and on and off for more than a year. What I’m saying is that I don’t switch phones lightly, and I’ve fully jumped to the Razr Fold.

That’s because to me, it feels like a regular smartphone that just happens to have an 8.1-inch folding screen, rather than a foldable with a cover screen afterthought. Given that most foldables are sold on their internal screen, it says a great deal about the overall quality of the cover screen, and that’s why it’s easily one of my favorite parts of Motorola’s first book-style foldable.