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Intro
2023 was an interesting year for the flip phones — the Motorola Razr Plus (2023) and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 got updated with larger external screen, which changed the way we interact with the foldables. Such a small change rejuvenated the sector somewhat, as reviewers praised the units, and buyers were now more interested to try them. No longer did you need to awkwardly open your phone for every notification, food order, or to track your Uber — they were very usable even when closed.
Motorola's implementation was quite generous — the external screen allows you to open any app you have on your phone. Samsung's external screen only works with specifically coded widgets, which kind of look like oversized watchfaces. Still useful, but not every app will have one of those created for it.
Samsung, however, has a sturdier hinge and an overall sturdier-feeling build quality. It was also the first flip phone with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which had the Made for Galaxy moniker to show it has been tuned specifically for that phone. Plus, it came with more storage at entry level.
So... which flip phone is the better one for you? We explore their use cases, performance, cameras, and battery endurance below:
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs Motorola Razr Plus (2023):
You can trade in your old phone to get a Galaxy Z Flip 5 trade-in discount of up to $549 at the official store. Having a Samsung Offer Programs membership helps you unlock extra savings.
Get the Motorola Razr+ (2023) and save $450 at Motorola
One of the best clamshell foldable phones, the Motorola Razr+ (2023) is up for grabs at $450 off its price tag. Trade-ins are open and can help you save extra.
Both the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr Plus can close with no gap, which is great so dust does not have an easy way in.
The Galaxy has flat sides, while the Razr goes for curved ones. Both have their pros and cons, but the Motorola is just a bit easier to open because of the flaps curving inwards where they meet. You can even open it with one hand by sliding your thumb in — it's definitely a skill to learn to do this without dropping it, though.
But we have to note that the Galaxy Z Flip 5's hinge feels studrier and it allows you to place the phone in semi-open state and just let it sit there. The Razr's hinge feels... softer and looser. And it has some spring action, which always moves it towards closing.
These two phones, when closed, have exactly the same thickness and their weight is also identical at 6.7 ounces (189 grams).
When it comes to dust and water resistance, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has an IPX8 rating, while the Razr Plus carries an IP52 rating. What this means is that the Samsung phone is not certified against small particles at all, while the Motorola has some limited dust protection. This is important because dust remains the arch enemy of folding phones, and it's definitely reassuring to see Motorola addressing this.
However, the Galaxy has an "8" water protection rating vs a "2" on the Razr. Motorola says its phone can resist “spills, splashes, or light rain,” while you have a much more substantial water protection on the Galaxy — up to 1.5 meters submersion for 30 minutes (in fresh water).
Both phones come with an aluminum frame and a glass back, but the Motorola also has a beautiful and very fashionable vegan leather covering on its Black and Magenta colors. It also improves phone grip for those that like to rock it without a case.
Display Differences
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the first Samsung flip phone with a nearly edge-to-edge 3.4-inch outer screen, but despite Samsung being the pioneer in modern foldable phones, Motorola was actually first with this feature.
The Razr Plus comes with an even larger edge-to-edge 3.6-inch outer screen, which gives you all the functionality you can imagine: all apps work on it, you can browse the web, watch videos, chat, use it for payments, even play games, anything really.
In comparison, the use of the Cover Screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is slightly limited. It supports a few widgets made by Samsung and also it runs some essential apps. The platform is also open to 3rd party developers to add widgets for it. You can get the Flip 5's outer screen to show actual apps if you are a Samsung Good Lock user — that's an alternative launcher for Galaxy phones that can be downloaded from the Galaxy Store... in certain regions in the world. So it's definitely not a default feature and requires some dabbling into.
You should also know that the Samsung outer screen only runs at 60Hz, while the Motorola one supports a buttery smooth 165Hz refresh rate. We are not sure how much of a benefit that is — the external screen is definitely there for quick "at a glance" data and interaction... We guess Motorola mostly did that for bragging rights.
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(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
As for the main screen, the Motorola has a slightly larger one at 6.9 inches vs 6.7 inches on the Galaxy, and both of them use this tall and weird 22 by 9 aspect ratio. Both are OLED, both have 1080p resolution and a fast refresh rate (120Hz on Galaxy vs 165Hz on the Razr Plus).
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
Naturally, there are no fingerprint scanners embedded into the displays — both phones rely on a traditional fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button on the side of the phone. It might not be the most convenient placement (a front positioned fingerprint seems more optimal), but this technology is mature and we have had no complaints: both are fast and accurate.
Performance and Software
Galaxy has more firepower, but does it matter?
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
The one compromise that Motorola has made with the Razr Plus is that the phone is equipped with the previous year's top chip, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, while the Galaxy Z Flip 5 uses the newer and slightly more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (Made for Galaxy edition).
Does this matter? Well, yes and no. Both of those chips are flagship ones and have plenty of performance, so for the majority of users a few percentage points will probably make no noticeable difference, but for those who care about having the best performance, or for gamers, the Galaxy will have an upper hand.
With 8GB of RAM on board we have parity. We are also glad to see that both the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr Plus come with 256GB of storage in the base model.
We should also mention the software. Both phones run Android 13, but it looks different. The Motorola goes with a clean-looking Android interface that only adds a few quite useful gestures, chop-chop to start the flashlight, twist the phone to start the camera, and so on. The Galaxy, on the other hand, uses Samsung's One UI, which completely changes the way Android looks on the device, invites you to use split screen with easily-accessible shortcuts to activate it, and opens the gate to connect to the Samsung ecosystem.
Samsung also has the upper hand with software updates. The Galaxy Flip 5 is expected to get four years of major OS updates compared to just three years on the Motorola.
Camera
Is there a meaningful difference in camera quality?
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
Both the Galaxy Flip 5 and Razr Plus feature a dual camera system with a wide and an ultra-wide lens, and there is no telephoto zoom lens on either one.
The flip phone form factor does not allow for much space for large sensors, so both these phones have smaller physical sensors than traditional, candybar style phones.
When we reviewed the Razr+, we noted that the camera may not be exquisite, but was still pretty good and dependable for memorabilia capture.
In typical fashion, Samsung just loves to boost the colors in these photos. They certainly produce that "Wow!" factor on first viewing, but if you are trying to capture a more realistic, tame image, you are going to have a hard time. Then again, the Razr+ isn't shy to push that vibrancy slider up as well. What we do notice, however, is that Samsung's HDR does a much better job at boosting the shadows. So, in highly dynamic scenes, it is definitely better.
We see much of the same in low light — the Samsung boosts both exposure and colors. Though, the Razr+ held it together very well here and we kind of prefer the realism in those photos. However, again, for an instantly-shareable social media photo, the Flip 5 amps those colors so they pop out of the screen.
These phones are definitely not zoom kings. Here, we can see that, at 3x, the Flip 5 kind of holds it together well — the picture is definitely soft, but it's usable. The Razr+ image is kind of falling apart, with burnt highlights and very blurred details. At 10x, both of these are... not great. You can probably use that zoom level to take a reference shot of something you can't see with the naked eye, but you won't be sharing those. Yes, the Flip 5 10x picture looks slightly better at first look, but that's only because it used an obscene amount of software sharpening — spend a second on the photo and it starts looking like a painting. That's not to say the Razr+ 10x photo is better — it's "all a blur" just like last Saturday night...
We can spot much the same performance from the ultra-wide cameras. Again, the Flip 5 images are brighter and more colorful. We also notice the Z Flip 5 has a slightly wider angle and employs more sharpening. The Razr+ ultra-wide shots are definitely softer — we'd even call the details blurry towards the edge of the framing.
There are two ways to take selfies with these phones — either use the front-facing camera above the main screen, or fold the phone and use the external screen as a viewfinder to take a higher-quality selfie with the main camera that ends up staring at your mug.
The performance of the front-facing cameras is very similar, even though we are talking about 10MP on the Samsung vs 32MP on the Motorola. We can spot that the Galaxy uses a bit more sharpening. Also, the Razr+ gave us a bit more blur in the background, for a slight natural bokeh.
With the main camera selfies, we see that massive color boost from the Flip 5 make everything orange. The Razr+, on the other hand, washed away some facial features, maybe due to an overzealous noise reduction?
Video Quality
At 4K video, both phones capture a good amount of detail, but colors on the Galaxy are more vibrant and it does a better job with exposure, while the Razr Plus captures slightly bleaker colors and can occasionally shoot a darker than ideal exposure. Video stabilization is also an issue on the Razr Plus, you can see the footage wobbles quite a bit, while the Galaxy does a much better job.
In low light, the video quality difference is much more dramatic and in favor of the Flip 5. The Motorola Razr Plus shakes and jitters noticeably, and it has this weird pulsating effect, plus the exposure is darker, you have less detail in the shadows and colors are on the bleaker side.
Audio Quality and Haptics
The Razr Plus has well-balanced loudspeaker quality with a dual speaker system, but it does not get very loud.
The Galaxy Z Flip 5 on the other hand gets just a bit boomier, but neither of these two phones goes beyond expectations for sound quality.
Neither phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, in case you were wondering.
As for haptic feedback, these phones click accurately and responsively, underlining every action we do on the display. Both are good at it!
Battery Life and Charging
The Razr has a slightly larger battery and faster charging
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
With a 3,800mAh battery, the Motorola Razr Plus has one of the largest batteries among flip phones, while the Galaxy uses a slightly smaller, 3,700mAh battery.
However, don't forget the newer and more power-efficient chip on the Galaxy, which might give it an edge.
Interestingly enough, the Motorola absolutely crushed our YouTube streaming test — we are led to believe that the company is adept at optimizing for YouTube, as this is not the first time the brand showcases long battery endurance in this particular area.
For regular web browsing, we'd say both phones "feel" like they perform about the same, but here our test shows that the Flip 5 will squeeze a couple of extra hours of non-stop online article reading. As for gaming, the Flip 5 is again slightly better, but they are more or less on par.
And when it comes to charging, we have a 25W charging speed on the Galaxy and a faster, 30W charging rate on the Razr.
Both phones also support wireless charging, but here the Galaxy can hit 10W wireless charging with Samsung's homemade charging pads, whereas the Razr+ is locked to 5W.
So how fast do these charge in real life? Let's take a look.
As you can see the Razr definitely has the upper hand when it comes to charging speeds on the wire. With wireless, you can expect better performance from the Flip 5, if you invest in a Samsung Fast Wireless Charger, too.
Folded: 85.1 x 71.9 x 15.1 mm Unfolded: 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm Weight:189 g
Folded: 88.4 x 74 x 15.1 mm Unfolded: 170.8 x 74 x 7 mm Weight:189 g
Displays
3.4-inch Cover Screen 60Hz
6.7-inch main screen 22:9 aspect ratio 1080p, 120Hz
3.6-inch Cover Screen 165Hz
6.9-inch main screen 22:9 aspect 1080p, 165Hz
Processor
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
RAM, Storage and Price
8/256 GB 8/512 GB
8/256 GB
Software
Android 13 with One UI 5
Android 13
Cameras
12MP Wide, f/1.8 12MP Ultra-wide, f/2.2
10MP selfie
12MP wide, f/1.5 13MP ultra-wide, f/2.2
32MP selfie
Battery Size
3,700 mAh
3,800 mAh
Charging Speeds
25W wired charge 10W wireless
30W wired charge 5W wireless
Summary and Final Verdict
(Image Credit - PhoneArena)
The Motorola Razr+ (2023) has really shaken things up in what was a very quiet flip phone space. It's an excellent phone! And the fact that you can open any app on that external screen really changes the way you use and interact with the phone — it now requires much less commitment if you are just responding to a quick message, ordering food, or checking your email. The Razr+ will also has that vegan leather finish, which will give you a break from the glass sandwich phone design, if you feel like you want something new.
But has Samsung caught up? The larger outer screen is the main improvement, but it's a bit more finnicky and not as straightforward. It's basically a big widget screen, and while Samsung has provided a good first batch of widgets, it's up to developers to grab the API and make their apps compatible with the Flip 5. But, on the other hand, we do find the Flip 5's camera to be better than the Razr+'s.
Then again, the Samsung phones also have a bigger ecosystem to play in with the Galaxy Watches, Buds, and Samsung's plethora of smart home appliances.
At the end of the day, for the average user who wants a good modern flip phone, both of these seem like they will fit the bill.
The reason to pick the Motorola would be the slightly more functional and larger outer screen, sleek rounded-off design with the new finish options, and the vanilla Android experience. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 will open the gates to the Samsung software experience, smarttags, DeX, slightly better camera, and more focus on multitasking.
So... which one would you go for and why?
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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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