In my opinion, foldables are the way of the future when it comes to smartphones.  The ability to have a display that is twice the size of the device that you have to carry around sounds perfect right?

Unfortunately, at the moment, there are some omissions and compromises manufacturers have to make when building foldable devices to make them thin enough to still be usable.  Are these limitations that these foldables have deal breakers?  Normally not but some phones make different compromises than others.  

For this reason, it is a good idea to compare all the options available.  We have a moto razr 50 ultra on our review desk alongside a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 and decided to compare the two closely.  We have not included the OPPO Find N3 Flip because it is nearly 12 months old now and it isn’t fair to compare it to much newer phones.

Read on to what makes them different, the same, and what parts we think are better on one phone than the other.  Read on, the results may surprise you.

Design and build

Samsung does design well.  Their phones have a definite design language with square sides with metallic rails around the side and the Z Flip6 is no different.  Premium. It just feels and looks premium, just like their other Galaxy flagship devices.

The razr 50 Ultra on the other hand is a more playful design with rounded corners and a plasticky-feeling back.  Now, with the rounded corners the phone does not feel nor look as premium but it is a lot easier and more comfortable to use and operate.  Opening it is easier thanks to the rounded corners that’s for sure.

The front of the phone is nearly all display on the moto, with the camera inside the cover display whereas Samsung has made the cover display smaller and stays well clear of the cameras.

I’m torn on which I prefer out of these though considering one looks amazing and feels so good in the hand while the other looks ok but the moto is a lot easier to open and thus use.  

Winner:  I think with this section I am going to ignore the front display and just focus on the design of the frame and overall build quality.  Although the moto is a bit easier to open and use, the Samsung design is just gorgeous and the build quality is incredibly premium. Samsung gets the points here.

Outer display

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6: Super AMOLED, 60Hz, 1600 nits (peak), 3.4 inches, 720 x 748 pixels, 306 ppi, Gorilla Glass Victus 2

Moto razr 50 ultra:  LTPO AMOLED, 165Hz, 2400 nits (peak), 4 inches, 1272 x 1080 pixels, 417 ppi, Gorilla Glass Victus

Size, specs and functionality all are in the moto razr 50 ultra’s favour and it’s not even close.  The display is noticeably bigger to the eye.  The 2023 razr 40 ultra display was big (3.6 inches) but this year motorola has decreased the bezels even more and made the display even bigger – 4 inches.  

Samsung, on the other hand, went with what appears to be the same display as last year.  Same size, same resolution, same refresh rate.  Samsung has done nothing to improve the cover display.  

The moto outer display not only is bigger but also has a faster refresh rate and higher resolution than last year, and with Samsung being the king of displays that is incredibly disappointing for them.

So the display is better but is it more useful?  Hell yes, it is.  Samsung’s cover display is basically a lock screen with the ability to quickly reply to some messages (not all messaging apps are supported – actually, very few are) with very little other functionality.  The number of widgets you can use is extremely limited, mostly to just Samsung apps.

The moto on the other hand has possibly the perfect cover display.  It is fully functional and can be used with ALL apps.  It is big enough to use the apps fully too and there are options for you to select for how you want an app to transition from an open phone to a closed phone.  Samsung, nothing.

Winner:  Motorola by a country mile.  Sorry, Samsung, but there is no excuse for using the same display as last year and making it virtually useless, especially when you knew that Motorola was already doing this last year with their razr 40 ultra.  Motorola knocked the ball out of the park here. Bravo.

Inner display

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6:   Foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, 2600 nits (peak), 6.7 inches, 101.5 cm2 (~85.5% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 2640 pixels (~426 ppi density)

Moto razr 50 ultra: Foldable LTPO AMOLED, 165Hz, 3000 nits (peak), 6.9 inches, 107.6 cm2 (~84.9% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 2640 pixels (~413 ppi density)

This category is difficult.  The moto is a slightly bigger phone and thus the inner display is bigger and wider – not by much but it is. 

 

On paper, the moto kills the Samsung once again but when side by side the Samsung appears to be brighter (with both phones at max brightness) and when both displays are set to vibrant the Samsung colours look more accurate and brighter. Their implementation of the display drivers and software just must be better.

This is a great example of why you should not just buy devices based on specs alone. The moto razr 50 ultra has better specs but somehow the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 is just better.

The creases on both displays are relatively small, with the razr crease ever so slightly smaller than the Z Flip6 crease but in everyday use you don’t even notice the crease anyway so it matter not.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 — don’t judge a device by its specs.

Hinge

The hinge on the Flip6 is stiffer than that on the moto – which moto advertises as an advantage as you can apparently open it with one hand but I’m not convinced about that being a good idea.  

The Galaxy Z Flip6 hinge does result in a larger crease than that on the moto (albeit by a very small margin) but that stiffer hinge means it can stay open for a wider range.  I’m not sure why you would want to but the option is there if you want it.

Winner: Here I’m going for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 as the winner.  Sure the hinge results in a deeper crease than the razr 50 ultra but that is minimal at most.  The hinge is stiffer but to me, that feels more secure and better built than the moto.

I am never going to open the razr 50 ultra with a single hand – I can see myself accidentally flinging the phone across the room when trying to do so — so I prefer the solid feel of the Samsung hinge here.

The Samsung is harder to open at times but that is a fault of the design of the side rails, not the hinge.  Once you get it open, even just a small amount, the Samsung hinge feels much better.

Camera quality

Samsung, on paper, has the weaker camera. The Flip6 camera has a better camera than last year but still not good enough when they have much better cameras in their other phones.  Moto has included two 50MP cameras but Samsung only one x 50MP and one x 12MP.  Moto has a telephoto but the Z Flip6 has a ultrawide as its second. Does it make a difference in real-world scenarios?  Which is better?  

Why don’t you be the judge? For all these photos below the razr 50 ultra photo is on the left.

It’s a tough one. I feel that Samsung’s AI is pulling a lot of weight here, especially with the green grass in pitch black night in front of the monument at the bottom. In the end, though both phones are passable. One is better on some photos and some on others. I’ll call this one a draw.

Apparently the different camera make very little difference when they both have decent AI in the post-processing algorithms.

Software

Most phone software is very similar these days so when it comes to foldable devices I’m looking at foldable-specific software.

Samsung has some basic apps that sort of run on the cover display and they have some widgets that you can use on the cover display but there isn’t much else you can do with it.

The moto razr 50 Ultra on the other hand can run any app on the outer display, place and run any widget on the outer display, edit the quick shortcuts for the cover display to your preferences and more.  It’s like this is Samsung’s first attempt at the flip form factor and they rushed it out the door before being able to get the software fully developed.

Oh, and motorola has a double-chop function to turn the torch on or twist your hand with the phone in it to open the camera app.  It is amazing how often I use these.  

Winner:  Another win by a country mile by Motorola.  Motorola doesn’t have much in the way of premium or ultra-premium devices and maybe that is why they’ve done such a good job with the razr 50 ultra – they put the entire team on it?  They can put more focus on that one device rather than have their expertise spread out over multiple premium and foldable smartphones?

Charging and battery life

Samsung has increased the capacity of the battery on the Z Flip6 this year but it is now the same size as that in the moto razr 50 Ultra.  Both flip phones this year offer 15W wireless charging but the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 only charges at 25W using QC2.0.  

Motorola on the other hand has included support for 45W charging in the razr 50 ultra and that is so much better.  Not only that, but the razr 50 ultra battery lasts longer because there are so many things you can use the outer display for.  

If you want to use the Samsung you need to open it up to the larger display, yes, the larger display that uses a lot more battery than the smaller outer display.

Winner:  moto razr 50 ultra is the clear winner here.  The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 does have all-day battery life but the slower charging and the battery does not last as long so it is overwhelmed by the moto once again in this category.

And the winner is…..

Just in case you can’t add up, in my eyes, the Motorola razr 50 ultra is the best flip phone on the Australian market. Its design isn’t as sophisticated nor as premium as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, the inner display isn’t quite up to the standard of the Z Flip6 but it excels in every other area.

The cameras are virtually equal to each other in their resultant images with Samsung’s AI post-processing carrying a large load.

The razr 50 ultra has an immeasurably more useful outer display and in my opinion, a foldable without a usable outer display is half a phone. You can run any and all apps on the outer display, as well as use any and all widgets on it. The external display is also incredibly customisable on the moto making it easy to personalise to just how you like it. None of this is possible on the Samsung.

The sheer usefulness of the razr 50 ultra’s outer display and the resultant increase in battery life make it the winner by a long way. The difference is that stark.

Before you buy one over the other I recommend heading down to your local store to check them both out as what I like you may hate and vice versa.