Motorola Razr Fold vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge | TechTalkTown
Motorola Razr Fold vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Motorola Razr Fold
Motorola
8.3
Best US book foldable, big battery
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Samsung
6.8
Gorgeous compromise
Motorola Razr Fold
What Reviewers Agree On
Best battery life of any notebook-style foldable — roughly 14h31m (16h10m optimized), far ahead of the Galaxy Z Fold 7's ~10h44m
DxOMark's #1 foldable camera (≈164 points, ~8th overall), with a triple 50MP system Motorola made a genuine strength
Standout software — multitasking, laptop mode and a Pixel-meets-Samsung balance reviewers repeatedly praise
Excellent, very bright displays — an 8.1-inch ~6,200-nit inner panel and a 165Hz ~6,000-nit outer screen
Active stylus support (Moto Pen Ultra) that works even on the cover screen, a Z Fold limitation
Pros & Cons
Motorola Razr Fold
Pros
Best battery life of any notebook-style foldable — roughly 14h31m (16h10m optimized), far ahead of the Galaxy Z Fold 7's ~10h44m
DxOMark's #1 foldable camera (≈164 points, ~8th overall), with a triple 50MP system Motorola made a genuine strength
Standout software — multitasking, laptop mode and a Pixel-meets-Samsung balance reviewers repeatedly praise
Excellent, very bright displays — an 8.1-inch ~6,200-nit inner panel and a 165Hz ~6,000-nit outer screen
Active stylus support (Moto Pen Ultra) that works even on the cover screen, a Z Fold limitation
Detailed Comparison
Design & Build
Motorola Razr Fold
Motorola's first book-style foldable trades the iconic flip for a Samsung-like book form, with a Material Expressive look, a flat-folding hinge and a notably heavy body.
Motorola's first book-style folding phone is a premium option, not the budget-friendlier alternative the category could use, with a 6,000mAh battery, top-tier chipset and serious camera hardware.
At 243g it's about 28g heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, largely because of the camera array, though it feels balanced and not heavy in the hand.
The design is Google Material Expressive instead of a misguided attempt to match Apple.
Motorola leveraged decades of hinge engineering to pull the screen taut, resulting in a surface that is startlingly flat and masks the crease.
TechTalkTown may earn a commission from purchases made through links below. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not influence our reviews. Learn more.
Undercuts the Galaxy Z Fold 7 by about $100 ($1,899 / £1,799) and includes a case plus a 90W charger in the box
Best book foldable you can actually buy in the US, since the Oppo Find N6 and Honor Magic V6 aren't sold there
Deal Breakers
Uses the non-Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in a $1,899 flagship — a clear cost-down some reviewers find disappointing
Heavy at 243g (≈28g more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7) and only IP48/IP49 rated, not full IP68
Motorola's poor track record for timely updates, plus a genuine source conflict over whether it gets 7 years or only 3 years of OS updates
Foldable repair costs and Motorola's screen-peeling warranty history are recurring trust concerns
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
What Reviewers Agree On
At 5.8mm and 163 grams the Edge genuinely feels transformatively lighter and thinner in hand than any other current flagship — picking it up is repeatedly described as a surprise even by reviewers skeptical of thin phones.
Build quality is premium and durable for the form factor — titanium frame, Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front (first phone to use it), Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back, IP68 rating intact.
The 6.7-inch 1440p LTPO AMOLED is one of the best smartphone displays in 2025 — 2,600-nit peak brightness, 120Hz, sharp and bright in any lighting.
Short-burst performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy + 12GB RAM matches or beats the S25 Ultra in single-shot benchmarks, with no noticeable lag in everyday use.
The 200MP main sensor (inherited from the S25 Ultra) takes genuinely strong photos with crisp detail, and the new wider 12MP selfie camera is a small upgrade for group shots.
Samsung commits seven years of OS and security updates, matching the industry's best long-term support window.
Deal Breakers
The 3,900 mAh battery is the smallest in the entire Galaxy S25 lineup — smaller even than the base S25's cell — and real-world endurance trails the S25+, S25 Ultra and most rivals by a meaningful margin.
There is no telephoto camera at all — only the 200MP main and a 12MP ultrawide — making it the only S25 phone without optical zoom and a hard sell for anyone who shoots distant subjects.
Under sustained 3DMark stress tests Notebookcheck measured GPU performance dropping to roughly half its initial score (46.3% Wild Life stability), confirming the slim chassis can't dissipate enough heat for long gaming sessions.
Wired charging is capped at 25W and wireless at 15W — well behind the OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi rivals, with a full charge taking about 1 hour 20 minutes from the wall.
Samsung skipped the new silicon-carbon battery chemistry already shipping in the OnePlus 13, Xiaomi 15, Vivo X200 and other competitors — the single technology that could have made the thin form factor work, repeatedly flagged by MKBHD, Dave2D and Mrwhosetheboss.
Undercuts the Galaxy Z Fold 7 by about $100 ($1,899 / £1,799) and includes a case plus a 90W charger in the box
Best book foldable you can actually buy in the US, since the Oppo Find N6 and Honor Magic V6 aren't sold there
Cons
Uses the non-Elite Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in a $1,899 flagship — a clear cost-down some reviewers find disappointing
Heavy at 243g (≈28g more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7) and only IP48/IP49 rated, not full IP68
Motorola's poor track record for timely updates, plus a genuine source conflict over whether it gets 7 years or only 3 years of OS updates
Foldable repair costs and Motorola's screen-peeling warranty history are recurring trust concerns
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Pros
At 5.8mm and 163 grams the Edge genuinely feels transformatively lighter and thinner in hand than any other current flagship — picking it up is repeatedly described as a surprise even by reviewers skeptical of thin phones.
Build quality is premium and durable for the form factor — titanium frame, Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front (first phone to use it), Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back, IP68 rating intact.
The 6.7-inch 1440p LTPO AMOLED is one of the best smartphone displays in 2025 — 2,600-nit peak brightness, 120Hz, sharp and bright in any lighting.
Short-burst performance from the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy + 12GB RAM matches or beats the S25 Ultra in single-shot benchmarks, with no noticeable lag in everyday use.
The 200MP main sensor (inherited from the S25 Ultra) takes genuinely strong photos with crisp detail, and the new wider 12MP selfie camera is a small upgrade for group shots.
Samsung commits seven years of OS and security updates, matching the industry's best long-term support window.
Cons
The 3,900 mAh battery is the smallest in the entire Galaxy S25 lineup — smaller even than the base S25's cell — and real-world endurance trails the S25+, S25 Ultra and most rivals by a meaningful margin.
There is no telephoto camera at all — only the 200MP main and a 12MP ultrawide — making it the only S25 phone without optical zoom and a hard sell for anyone who shoots distant subjects.
Under sustained 3DMark stress tests Notebookcheck measured GPU performance dropping to roughly half its initial score (46.3% Wild Life stability), confirming the slim chassis can't dissipate enough heat for long gaming sessions.
Wired charging is capped at 25W and wireless at 15W — well behind the OnePlus 13 and Xiaomi rivals, with a full charge taking about 1 hour 20 minutes from the wall.
Samsung skipped the new silicon-carbon battery chemistry already shipping in the OnePlus 13, Xiaomi 15, Vivo X200 and other competitors — the single technology that could have made the thin form factor work, repeatedly flagged by MKBHD, Dave2D and Mrwhosetheboss.
The build feels relatively sturdy with a zero-gap hinge and flush closure, though the soft inner screen still makes dust and dirt a concern.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
At 5.8mm and 163 grams the S25 Edge is the thinnest and lightest Galaxy flagship ever, and nearly every reviewer concedes that picking it up changes their opinion of thin phones — even those who came in skeptical. The frame is grade-5 titanium with Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 (a smartphone first) on the front and Victus 2 on the back, IP68 rating preserved. The camera bump protrudes enough that the phone wobbles noticeably on a flat surface, and several reviewers point out a case immediately negates the thin-phone benefit.
After living with the Edge for two weeks, the lighter weight repeatedly tricked the reviewer into thinking she'd left her phone at home — the slimmer dimensions make a tangible difference in pockets and small bags the way no other modern big phone does.
At 5.8mm it is 2mm thinner than the iPhone 16 Plus and weighs 36 grams less despite the same 6.7-inch screen — picking it up genuinely feels strange and, surprisingly, not cheap.
Samsung kept the titanium frame and IP68 rating, and the Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 panel is a smartphone first — the Edge is undeniably enchanting in sheer feel and aesthetics.
The titanium frame meets the glass at a minutely chamfered edge that banishes the sharp digging-into-the-palm sensation of the S25 Ultra — for an hour straight it never once felt fatiguing.
The Edge ruined the reviewer's previously positive experience with the S25 Ultra in 24 hours — the Ultra suddenly feels thick and noticeably heavy by comparison.
Even on video of his own hands holding it the difference looks subtle, but it is very noticeably thinner to hold — the kind of feel-it-to-believe-it engineering you don't get from a spec sheet.
Picking up the Edge was very reminiscent of his first time picking up a MacBook Air or a new iPad — 30% thinner and 25% lighter doesn't sound transformative on paper but absolutely feels it.
Just under 4mm thick, the camera bump on the back is quite prominent — including the lenses the Edge is almost as thick as the S25+, and on a table it wobbles back and forth considerably.
The phone rocks a lot on a table due to the camera bump and even with a case the Edge won't stop wobbling because case-makers want to preserve as much thinness as possible.
Battery & Charging
Motorola Razr Fold
The standout: the largest battery in the book-foldable space delivering class-leading endurance, plus 80W wired charging — three times faster than the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Lasting an impressive 14 hours 31 minutes, the Razr Fold is officially the best notebook-style foldable for battery life (16h10m with refresh-rate optimized).
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 managed only 10h44m in the same test, with a 4,400mAh battery versus the Razr Fold's 6,000mAh cell.
I found the battery basically impossible to kill in a single day, even with the Fold's hotspot supplying an entire office internet connection over 12 days.
It charges at 80W wired — over three times as fast as the Galaxy Z Fold 7's 25W — plus 50W wireless and 5W reverse, with a 90W charger and a case included in the box.
The 6,000mAh cell is colossal — about 20% larger than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold's — though there's also more display to power.
If you use the camera a lot or run games, the battery does drain quite quickly and you may need an afternoon top-up.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
The 3,900 mAh cell is the smallest in the entire S25 family — even smaller than the base S25's 4,000 mAh battery. Engadget's local video rundown clocked 25 hours 59 minutes (about 3.5 hours less than the Ultra and two hours less than the standard S25); Notebookcheck reached almost 18 hours of simulated web browsing. Real-world experience is split: The Verge survived a heavy Google I/O day with 20% left; Wired needed mid-day top-ups; Trusted Reviews hit 5% by midday after only two hours of screen-on time. Wired charging caps at 25W. The single most-flagged complaint is Samsung's decision not to use silicon-carbon battery tech that competitors already ship.
A full day covering Google I/O with three hours of screen time and an hour-ish of hotspot use ended with 20 percent left — not amazing, but fine for a heavy use day if you can plug in by evening.
Engadget's local video rundown lasted 25 hours 59 minutes — about three and a half hours less than the S25 Ultra and two hours less than the base S25.
Almost 18 hours of simulated web browsing and over 25 hours of HD video playback in lab testing — sufficient for a day of intensive use even if it doesn't quite beat similarly priced rivals.
Software & AI
Motorola Razr Fold
The surprise strength — Motorola's foldable software is widely called the best balance of Pixel simplicity and Samsung multitasking, undercut only by Motorola's update-timeliness history.
Motorola nailed the software — it feels like the perfect middle ground between the Pixel and Samsung approaches to book foldables, with a laptop mode that turns the bottom half into a trackpad.
The Razr Fold is winning me over with something not on the spec sheet — superb multitasking software.
Given Motorola's awful track record for timely updates, you've got to be ready to live with the little launch bugs for a while.
Motorola promises 7 years of Android version and security updates — best-in-class and a huge jump from last year's 3-year commitment.
Counterpoint: Motorola is only committing to 3 years of Android upgrades and 5 years of security patches, so versus Samsung's 7 years it's really no contest.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
Same One UI 7 on Android 15 as the rest of the S25 lineup, same Galaxy AI feature suite (Now Brief, generative photo editing, Gemini integration), same seven-year OS and security update commitment. No platform differentiator over the cheaper S25 or S25+ — software is identical, so the Edge's pitch lives entirely on hardware design.
Same One UI 7 on Android 15 as the rest of the S25 lineup, with the full Galaxy AI feature set including Now Brief, generative editing and Gemini as the default assistant.
Seven years of major Android upgrades and monthly security patches until 2031 — matches the best long-term support in the industry.
Very pleasing and fluid One UI experience, DeX support, seven major OS updates — listed as a pro across the verdict even by reviewers cool on the hardware.
Shout-out to the realtime visual Gemini Live feature — you can be on a video call with the AI and point at an object and have it answer contextual questions, real-world impressive AI even if execution isn't perfect.
Selfie camera supports log video recording — a small but real software differentiator the rest of the S25 series doesn't currently have.
At $1,099 the Edge sits between the cheaper S25+ ($999) and the only-$100-more S25 Ultra ($1,299), and reviewers across The Verge, Wired, GSMArena and Ars Technica agree neither end of that bracket is a comfortable place to land given what you give up.
Wireless charging works through a 'Qi2 Ready' label rather than built-in magnets — you need a separate magnetic case for MagSafe-style accessories, the same issue Engadget called out on the S25 Ultra.
There is no S Pen support and no S Pen slot — the Ultra's signature feature is gone, removing the one reason you'd traditionally pay over $1,000 for a Samsung flagship without compromise.
At $1,099 the Edge sits between the cheaper S25+ ($999) and the only-$100-more S25 Ultra ($1,299), and reviewers across The Verge, Wired, GSMArena and Ars Technica agree neither end of that bracket is a comfortable place to land given what you give up.
Wireless charging works through a 'Qi2 Ready' label rather than built-in magnets — you need a separate magnetic case for MagSafe-style accessories, the same issue Engadget called out on the S25 Ultra.
There is no S Pen support and no S Pen slot — the Ultra's signature feature is gone, removing the one reason you'd traditionally pay over $1,000 for a Samsung flagship without compromise.
After only four hours of screen-on time the phone hit 15% — only light-to-average use will get you a full day, and travelling I/O coverage required mid-afternoon charging anxiety.
Off a full charge at 3pm, the phone hit 30% by morning and 5% by midday with only two hours of total screen time — Trusted Reviews calls this 'the phone that reintroduces battery anxiety' for the modern era.
Wired charging tops out at 25W and a full charge takes 1 hour 20 minutes — pedestrian numbers for a smartphone in this price category.
The Edge sticks with regular lithium-ion battery tech, not the silicon-carbon anode chemistry rivals like the OnePlus 13, Xiaomi 15, Vivo X200 and several Honor phones already ship — a 15–20% battery boost left on the table.
Skipping silicon-carbon was 'a big miss' — if Samsung had used it, the same thin chassis could have held meaningfully more capacity and the battery debate would have evaporated.
If this were a more energy-dense silicon-carbon battery the conversation would be entirely different — but it isn't, and within a few years as the cell degrades buyers may regret prioritising thinness over capacity.
Wireless charging is 'Qi2 Ready' rather than fully Qi2 compatible — there are no magnets inside the phone, so MagSafe-style accessories require a separate magnetic case or adhesive ring.
