Motorola Razr 60 reviewed: big improvement

Foldable phones are coming down in price, and the Moto Razr 60 is the latest example. At $1199, it’s what the Razr 50 should have been.

The latest and greatest technology is usually going to be the most expensive around, but over time, it eventually trickles to a lower price point. This process known as the “democratisation of technology” means that eventually everyone else can afford what was once new and impressive, and to an extent still may be.

It’s something that happens in mobiles all the time. Big screens once occupied this spot, as did the idea of several great cameras on one phone. These days, all of these things can be found on less expensive phones, and they’re not alone.

Foldable technology is now on its way to lower price points, pushing below the $1499 mark and gradually making its way to a thousand bucks in Australia. We’re not quite there yet, but Motorola has been giving the idea a solid push in the past year.

The Moto Razr 40 managed to do it as Motorola retired the phone, while its replacement got close with an $1199 price point that was a little too exy for a phone that needed more performance overall.

But this year, Moto is giving the idea another swing. Armed with a new chip and a slightly bigger battery, the Razr 60 is every bit the phone its brother should have been. Is it worth the same $1199 sticker price?

Design

Another generation of foldable phones for Motorola as we see our first glimpse of the 60 series, but you’d be excused for thinking anything had changed. Nothing really has, at least from the design point of view, though the features and specs may give off a similar vibe.

Aesthetically, the Razr 60 is definitely easy on the eyes: a large 3.6 inch pOLED screen on the outside provides the same spacious cover display as its Razr 50 predecessor did — none of the shaped display Samsung tried on the Flip 6 — while the inside sees a 6.9 inch pOLED when you open it up.

The edges are softened and almost appear like lips, while the materials are a combination of textured plastic on the back (something Motorola says is “nylon-inspired”) with Corning’s Gorilla Glass protecting the front.

You’ll also find a modicum of water resistance here, with IP48 for a drizzle and maybe a splash of water.

Not much has changed design-wise, though; the Razr 60 sports an almost identical design with an identical 15.9mm closed thickness and 7.3mm open thickness, identical to its Razr 50 sibling from last year. Though it does come in Pantone specific colours: a blue known as “Gibraltar Sea” and a pink Pantone calls “Parfait Pink”. Because everyone likes parfait.

Features

An identical design save for a slightly different texture in the body tells us a little about what we’re dealing with in the Razr 60, but the specs pretty much confirm it: aside for the chip, you can largely expect the same hardware.

The chip is different, with a MediaTek Dimensity 7400X upgraded from the 7300X last generation, but practically everything else reads the same.

You’ll find 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, Android 15, plus two cameras on the outside covering a 50 megapixel F1.7 wide main camera and a 13 megapixel ultra-wide with macro set to F2.2. There’s also a front-facing camera inside with the 6.9 inch foldable display, providing 32 megapixels of selfie goodness at F2.4 that normally crops down to 8 megapixels.

Connections are pretty normal for a phone these days: one USB Type C port as the main wired charging port, though you can plug in a USB-C converter for a 3.5mm headset jack if you choose. Wireless is catered for with 4G, 5G, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS, Near-Field Communication (NFC) for Google Pay, and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6E support, too.

There’s a hint of water resistance in the phone, sporting IP48 splash and dust resistance, plus a 4500mAh battery.

Oh, and there are two screens: the outside 3.6 inch pOLED display running 1056×1066 (almost square) with. up to a 90Hz refresh rate, taking up most of the front if not for a slim bar at the top near the hinge, while the inside is a 6.9 inch Full HD+ OLED running 2640×1080 with up to a 120Hz refresh rate.

In-use

A similar design and feature set means — yep, you guessed it — a similar way to use the Razr 60, which for this phone comes in two approaches: the small cover screen and the larger inside screen.

The cover screen is sort of a compact version of Android, allowing you to run a smaller pint-sized version of your apps on that tiny 3.6 inch screen. Sonos, Messenger, even your phone’s dial pad can all be opened from that screen, provided you add it as an available app.

Meanwhile, the inside is typical Android flavoured with Motorola’s extra bits, which includes the usual gestures such as shaking to launch the camera and opening the phone to answer a call. You’ll also get a little bit of AI should you choose to use it, though we found Motorola’s AI additions invariably didn’t improve how we used this phone.

There’s not a lot of differences in how you use the Razr 60 from its predecessor, as Motorola has largely kept everything the same. You’d be excused for thinking the Razr 60 was the Razr 50, given how much is identical.

Performance

But one thing has changed, and that’s the chip: Motorola has moved from a MediaTek Dimensity 7300X to a Dimensity 7400X. It’s a difference of a number, sure, but on the system performance side of things, the letter is more than a few lines of change. There’s a smidgen more performance here.

Benchmarked against its siblings, the Dimensity 7400X in the Razr 60 has just that little bit more power than its predecessor, something we found fault with in the Razr 50 review. In that model, the phone was just too slow at times, causing the camera to struggle to fire a shot, or worse, leave you hanging as you loaded an app.

It was the sort of processor you’d expect to find in a mid-range phone, and felt a little out of place in a foldable, even one that wasn’t targeting the high-end.

In the Razr 60, the chip is still a little lower than what we’d like, but the benchmarks are slightly better, and that’s a great start.

Weirdly, the Razr 60 still doesn’t quite have the power to edge out Motorola’s first-gen Razr revamp, the 2022 model, which delivers more performance respectively in our benchmarks.

It’s not just that, though. The Razr 60 isn’t a dramatic leap over some of the older foldable flip phones, either. Thanks to a slightly lower chip, even the Samsung Z Flip 5G from a staggering four years ago beats the Razr 60 on benchmark performance.

We’re not focused on that, however; we’re more interested in the real-world performance, because that was the problem last time in the Razr 50.

In the Razr 60, however, there’s a small amount of lag, but nothing like it was on its predecessor. By comparison, the Razr 60 is usable, with apps loading without lag most of the time, and the camera working more efficiently, too.

Just about everything works the way you’d expect it to, which is more than we could say for the Razr 50.

Even the 5G is fast, delivering speeds nearing 500Mbps in our tests in Sydney, Australia using the Telstra network by way of Mate Mobile.

In short, the Razr 60 is exactly what the 50 should have been. It’s a mid-range foldable that works.

Camera

That also includes an acceptable camera, again a part of the feature set from last year that hasn’t changed.

Motorola really didn’t do much between generations with this model, because short of the chip and the nylon-inspired plastic exterior, the Razr 60 really is its older sibling.

For those playing along at home, it means the Razr 60 gets the same 50 megapixel wide and 13 megapixel ultra-wide, an acceptable camera combination that offers acceptable clarity in daytime and a little less at night.

Images can be a little soft at times, even when they shouldn’t be. Pictures are clear enough until you get close, while portrait mode can struggle to maintain clarity, blurring too much of the subject and background. At times, images can even seem too saturated and contrasty, as if the processing is working overtime.

It’s not quite on the same playing field as say a Pixel 9a, the current mid-range phone to beat, but you should get some okay shots out of the camera.

Importantly, the camera now runs at the speed it should. You’ll be able to snap a picture and move on with your life, instead of waiting for the phone to play catch up.

Battery

A similar camera is joined by a similar battery, though we did find the Razr 60 fared a little better than its Razr 50 sibling. That could be because Motorola has actually upgraded this component slightly, moving from a 4200mAh battery in the Razr 50 to a 4500mAh in the Razr 60.

Throughout several days of testing, our time with the Moto Razr 50 delivered a consistent 24 hours of usage, able to stretch into the second day if needed. We topped out around 36 to 42 hours all up, though we suspect most people will charge nightly.

You can charge using high-speed wired USB-C charging, but wireless is also included in the package. Sadly no Qi2 just yet, with HMD the only company to really take that on so far.

Value

It even carries the same price as its predecessor, with Motorola opting not to make the same mistake in the price jump from the Razr 40 to the 50. Instead, the Razr 60 retains the same $1199 price tag as the Razr 50. That’s both good and bad.

On the one hand, the Razr 60’s $1199 price tag is fine for what is basically an entry-level foldable. The idea of an entry-level foldable is still largely foreign, so we don’t take issue with that.

However, the fact that virtually nothing has change besides the processor makes the tag feel a little rich. Closer to $999 would have been more sound, or even $1099.

Part of the problem is that Motorola doesn’t have a lot of competition in this category, in mid-range foldables. Samsung’s obvious contender is the Flip 7 FE, which is more expensive at $1499… and that’s it.

There are only two players in the folding flip phone world in Australia. There just isn’t a lot of incentive for Motorola to pull down the price of this phone, or even a lot of reason.

Even though very little has changed, the value stays the same, a year on. There’s value here, but you get the feeling the price could be better again.

What needs work?

We’ve seen less expensive foldable phones from Moto during a sale, and the price could easily be improved, even by a little.

It’s practically the same phone as last year with a better processor and marginally more battery, meaning it’s 2024’s foldable updated to work properly a year later.

They are minor changes, all things considered, and Motorola could have actually improved things further. A better camera and an even better processor would both have been welcome changes. But no, this is a minor refresh to address some of the obvious problems with last year’s phone.

Don’t get us wrong, they’re definitely welcome, but Motorola could have made the whole package better overall.

What we love

While not much has changed, what we love about the Razr 60 is what it and its predecessor were released to do: lower the price of foldables, something no one in Australia has really tried.

As it is, Samsung’s equivalent to a mid-range foldable (or an entry-level folding phone, if you will) is to repackage last year’s Flip 6 and sell it as a new model for $1499. That is roughly what the Flip 7 FE is. Not a new phone, but a rehashed edition of last year’s model.

The Razr 60 isn’t far from that logic, either. It is largely the Razr 50 with a better chip and a slightly bigger battery. But it has also retained the Razr 50’s $1199 price point, making it a comparatively affordable entry-level folding phone, something Samsung can’t really lay claim to.

You’ll even find a case in the box. Bonus.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

While not entirely a new phone, the Moto Razr 60 is a big improvement on its predecessor, and a mid-range foldable worth checking out.

Sure, the price could be a little better, and the camera could be improved, as could the processor overall. But in terms of getting the price of foldables down, Motorola is beginning to really hit its stride. The Razr 60 is the closest we’ve been to foldable affordability.