Samsung Z Flip 6 v Motorola Razr 50 UItra: How Do They Compare?

When the clamshell foldable segment started, there were two players who debuted in the market around the same time: Samsung and Motorola. Several years later, these two companies are still going head-to-head, trying to claim the throne of modern-day flip phones.

In late June, Motorola unveiled its new flagship foldable, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra (AKA Razr+ (2024)), and just a few days ago, Samsung came out with its brand-new Z Flip 6. Both phones are in the same price bracket so if you're on the market for a clamshell foldable, come with me, while I help you decide which one to go for.

How Does The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Compare To The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra?

These are the two foremost options for anyone looking for a clamshell foldable, so let's get into how they compare with one another in each of their various spec segments.

The Design

You can instantly tell the Razr 50 Ultra and the Z Flip 6 apart from each other. The Razr has a huge cover display with cutouts for the camera, a shiny curved frame, and Motorola branding on the back panel. The Z Flip 6 only has branding on its hinge, leaving the back panel plain, and goes for a matte and flat frame. The cover display is also much smaller and makes way for the cameras and flash instead of enveloping them.

In terms of dimensions, the differences aren't significant. The Z Flip 6 weighs 187 grams and the Razr is only 2 grams heavier. Folded and unfolded, the Z Flip 6 is thinner, but not by much: 14.9mm vs 15.3mm folded, and 6.9mm vs 7.1mm unfolded. It also has IP48 against the Razr's IPX8 certification. Design is subjective, so which you prefer depends on you, but when it comes to dimensions, weight, and weather resistance, Samsung takes it.

The Screens

Ah, the displays. I wanted to count the bigger cover display on the Razr as being in its favor in the design category, but that would be preemptive, wouldn't it? The Razr 50 Ultra upgrades its predecessor's cover display to a 4-inch 165Hz LTPO AMOLED model, making it the joint-biggest and arguably the most impressive cover display on a clamshell foldable. The Z Flip 6's 3.4-inch cover display is okay but doesn't really compete.

On the inside, the competition is a little closer. Both devices have LTPO AMOLED units, but the Z Flip's is a 6.7-inch 120Hz module with 2,600-nit peak brightness while the Razr is a bigger 6.9-inch unit with 165Hz refresh, 3,000-nit peak brightness, and Dolby Vision. Unless you explicitly want a smaller screen, the Razr is the easy winner here.

The Chipsets And Memory

In the chipset and memory department, the Z Flip 6 takes an easy win with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The Razr has the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which is a great chip, but it's easily trounced by Qualcomm's current flagship SoC. Both phones come with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. Anyway, the more powerful chip is the differentiating factor that lets the Z Flip take the point.

The Batteries And Charging

Both phones use 4,000 mAh batteries as the Z Flip 6 gained 300 mAh over its predecessor to bring both phones equal. However, things aren't equal with charging. Both phones support 15W wireless charging, but while the Z Flip 6 still sits at 25W like most of Samsung's phones, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra at least pushes to 45W (which is as high as Samsung goes in any of its phones).

The Z Flip 6 supports 4.5W reverse wireless charging and the Razr 50 Ultra opts for 5W reverse wired charging. Faster charging on the Razr makes it the easy choice here.

The Cameras

I risk sounding like a broken record, but it's not easy to compare cameras on paper. You can take a look at megapixel counts and sensor sizes, but it'll never be the whole picture. I've got to try to find some objective means of comparison though, don't I?

Both smartphones have 50MP primary sensors with dual-pixel PDAF and OIS, so that's an easy comparison. The Z Flip opts for a 12MP ultrawide as its secondary cam while the Razr chooses a 50MP 2x telephoto. Which one you prefer here depends on your personal taste, though I'm a telephoto kind of guy. Both devices can record 4K/60 video.

The Samsung option has a 10MP selfie camera and the Moto goes for a 32MP snapper. On top of that, the Motorola can somehow record 4K/60 on the front camera despite having the lower-end chip, while the Samsung settles for 4K/30.

In this category, the selfie camera makes the difference, giving the Razr a minimal win over the Samsung. Again, on paper, at the very least.

Pricing, Availability, And Which One Should You Get?

The Razr 50 Ultra starts at $999 while the Z Flip 6 starts at $1,099. Both phones are open for pre-orders in the United States, and quite oddly, both are expected to be available on the same date: July 24th.

However, interestingly enough, whether you buy the new Razr from Motorola's website or Amazon, they're offering a $100 price cut, likely for as long as pre-orders last, which means you can get the phone at $899 instead.

Both phones win in an almost equal number of categories, but with the same storage configuration at a lower price, faster charging, a bigger cover display, and potentially better cameras, I think I'll give the crown to the Razr. However, it is very close and if you don't mind paying $100 more to get the better chipset in the Z Flip 6, I'd say go for it.