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This is the new Motorola Razer Ultra. It's the best flip phone I've ever tested, but you shouldn't buy one. Here's why. Let's start with the design. The new Razer Ultra is identical to this, the Razer Ultra 2025. And that's not inherently a bad thing, because last year's Razer received a CNET editor's choice award because we liked it so much. Now, both last year's model and the new one have identical screens, cover displays, dimensions, weight, processors, and cameras, and build. Yeah, there are some nuances, but we're going to get into that a little bit later. This one cost $1,300. And this one cost
$1,500. Yes, you can hear the proverbial record skip. So, what do you get for that extra $200? this new orient blue color. Now, my orientation points to it being well, purple and it has this gorgeous Alcantara fabric on the back. Now, think high-end automobile like Porsches and Lambos. Yes, the 2026 Razer Ultra is the best looking phone I've seen this year. And what's great about having a fabric back is that it don't crack if you drop it. The new Ultra keeps the amazing 4-in cover screen, which is still outstanding to use and still offers the best experience on any flip
phone in 2026 so far. Now, the internal display gets brighter now and can go all the way up to 5,000 nits peak brightness, which is fantastic when I'm using it in the California sunshine. Let's talk about the cameras, which are basically the same as last year's model, but with one big tech nerd upgrade. The main wide-angle camera now has a lowix sensor, lateral overflow integration capacitor. Those words mean it can better protect the highlights in your photos, so the brightest parts of your image don't blow out to a solid white. Instead, you can see more detail and
shading. So, here's a mini camera shootout between last year's Ultra and the new one. Look at these images of a Compluvium above this atrium. The photos from both Ultra phones are close, but notice how the underside of the roof is slightly brighter in the corners and how by protecting the highlights, the colors in the 2026 Ultra's images are more saturated, like the wood tones and the green of the tree. In these images of two palm trees from each Ultra, you can see how protecting the highlights gives the Ultra 26's image a very saturated green look. It did not look that green
in real life, folks. Look closely at the sidewalk and street on the right side of the images, and you see how the details and colors are more pronounced in the 2026 Razer. But I also noticed something strange. If you look more closely at the tops of the trees in the 2026 Razor's image, you'll notice it. They look almost like they were cut out from the background. In fact, I noticed this in many of the photos that I took of trees against a blue sky with the new razor. Sometimes there's almost a halo cutout around the edges of the trees. This image of the Mission Basilica in
San Francisco has it the worst. I mean, between the halo cutout around the edges of the trees and the increased saturation that's likely due to the highlights being protected, the results are a very artificial looking photo. That's not to say that I haven't gotten some truly wonderful images from the new Razer Ultra, and I have. And because of its form factor, it's perfect for those candid moments like this cover screen selfie that I took with CNET's Abra Alhiti at Google IO. Then there's videos. Look, the heavy color saturation from the images is even worse
here. And if you're going to zoom in, I wouldn't. Digital zoom for video on the new Razer Ultra is bad. Really bad. The image just falls apart. But let's talk about something more happy, the new battery. So, the Razer 2026 Ultra has good battery life thanks to its silicon carbon battery. Now, this is a new type of lithium ion battery where the negative end is made of silicon and carbon. This gives the battery more capacity, 5,000 milliamp hours compared to 4,700 on last year's model. The good news is that the new Razer Ultra lasts a day and some change on a single charge.
And that's great news, but consider that the 2025 Razer Ultra also did when I reviewed it. I think the brighter main screen might be eating up some of the gains of the new battery, but there were times with light use, like on a weekend, where it made it a day and a half before needing a charge, which on a foldable phone is kind of unbelievable. Speaking of charging, the new Razer Ultra is fast. It supports a max 68 watt wired charging speed. And in CNET's 30inut charging test, it went from empty to 52%, which is good. But last year's Ultra hit 55% and Samsung's Galaxy
Z Flip 7 added 59% and that only needed a 25 watt charger to do so. I should note that to get that top 68 watt charging speed that your phone plug needs to support turbocharged power delivery. Now, this one that Motorola sent me cost $60. Now, it's one thing to not include a charger in the box of a $1,500 phone, and another to charge folks an extra $60 to get one that actually lets it hit that speed. And if that hasn't made your eyes cross yet, then the Razer's wireless charging certainly will. See, the Razer Ultra supports 30 watt wireless charging, but good luck finding a
charger that supports it. In fact, a Motorola PR told me that the 30 watt figure represents the devices maximum supported capability using proprietary technology under ideal conditions, but Motorola doesn't sell one, and there aren't third party accessories that work with it either. It's like having a car that can go 300 mph, but you're not able to drive it. All of this comes back down to price. And with that, here are my final thoughts on the Razer Ultra 2026. $1,500. That's $200 more than last year's Razer Ultra. Now, I thought maybe the price increase
had something to do with the ongoing RAM shortage that's caused by the demand for RAM by AI data centers. That's the reason Samsung raised the price on its phones earlier this year. But with Motorola, that might not be the case. They told CNET, "Pricing is always subject to change based on market conditions. Higher RAM prices could fall under the term market conditions, but $1,500 is a lot, especially an economy where daily essentials cost more. And $1,500 for a phone, even one that I think is good. And I do think that the Razer Ultra 2026 is the best flip phone that I've tested.
$1,500 for it is a lot. But Motorola does have two things going for it. One, it designs pricing to be discounted. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see this summer or fall that the price for the Razer Ultra to be discounted at 100 or $200 or even $300. The other thing that Motorola does well is it has different price tiers for different Razer models. You can get the baseline Razer for 800. You can get the Razer Plus for $1,100. where you can step all the way up to 1500 and get the big boy, the Razer Ultra. But that's all I've got. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs
up. And if you want to see more All Things Mobile, please subscribe. Lastly, thank you for watching.
