Review: Motorola Razr 70 Ultra - Style and expression

With design and materials that dare to be bold, and extensive functionality for apps even on the outer display, Motorola is still keeping its competitors at bay.

Erik Mörner Erik Mörner

Published 24 September 2026 - 14:28

The Razr was one of the first phones with a foldable screen and has developed both its design and functionality year by year. Motorola's main distinctive feature is the wooden back and the fact that we can actually run any apps in full even on the small outer screen. Admittedly, not all apps work particularly well there, and I quite often find myself unfolding the phone anyway. Still, I appreciate the option of using all apps. Not all manufacturers offer that.

Apps and quick information on the small screen

The idea behind this type of foldable phone is that you have a small, handy phone that easily fits into a pocket or bag, while still being able to view notifications, control music playback or check the weather forecast directly on the outer screen. Widgets from any apps are also a convenient use case for the outer screen, as they do not require any interaction and often provide brief, compact information that is well suited to a small screen. The phone's format also makes it easy to take selfies with its best cameras and use the phone itself as a stand for taking pictures. On the downside, it is worth mentioning that every time you pick up the phone, an extra step is required, as it needs to be unfolded, whereas a conventional phone is ready to use as soon as you have it in your hand.

Limited usefulness of AI without Swedish language support

As with the previous model, Motorola is keen for you to use Moto AI on the outer screen. There is a special feature that lets you place the phone on the table in front of you, half-folded, and as soon as the cameras detect that you are looking at the phone, Moto AI is activated so that you can ask whatever you want. It works on paper, admittedly, but in practice it is almost completely unusable. Setting up the phone in precisely the required way is an obstacle in itself, and although the phone is then good at noticing when I look at it and helpfully displays “Listening...” on the screen in Swedish, it does not understand me when I speak Swedish. Even though Swedish words appear in Moto AI mixed with English, there is no Swedish language support. In terms of AI, the Razr 70 Ultra at least offers similar AI to other Android phones, including Google's Gemini, which of course understands Swedish.

When Motorola launched the predecessor, the Razr 60 Ultra, a year ago, that phone's system chip was of the latest and most powerful kind. This Razr 70 Ultra has exactly the same chip, the year-old Snapdragon 8 Elite, which means both that last year's problems carry over and that the phone easily overheats when we run more demanding apps and games, sometimes even shutting down the apps in question. A warning appears on the screen when this happens. Like its predecessor, however, the Razr 70 Ultra offers generous battery life. It even has a marginally larger battery capacity than its predecessor and lasts unusually long in our battery test.

Almost the same but much more expensive

As the Razr 70 Ultra is essentially almost the same phone as the 60 Ultra released a year ago, it does not offer many surprises or innovations. The clearest benefit of the cameras is that you can take good selfies, as you can easily use the main rear cameras for selfies too when the phone is closed and the outer display is used as a viewfinder. A flick of the wrist activates Motorola's established gesture controls, and you can then hold your palm up in the frame, prompting the camera to start a countdown and take a photo hands-free.

Otherwise, the cameras work well in low light too, with good colour and detail reproduction. The main camera now has a so-called Lofic sensor, which is intended to provide better conditions for natural colour reproduction in, for example, images with high contrast. However, it does not offer any particularly clear advantages compared with its predecessor, for example. There is no optical zoom, but with digital zoom and the support of the main camera's 50-megapixel resolution, you can still take decent images at up to perhaps 10x zoom without any major shortcomings.

Questions and answers

Why is it so expensive?

It may be due to the rising cost of memory.

Fingerprint sensor and facial recognition?

Yes, facial recognition works with the cameras on both the outer and inner screens, and the fingerprint sensor is located in the button on the side.

How is the performance?

The phone feels fast and the display has a high refresh rate, which helps, but during prolonged heavy use the phone can become uncomfortably hot, to the point where apps may even shut down.

An alternative

Given the few updates compared with last year's model and the significantly higher price, the predecessor, the Razr 60 Ultra, is an attractive alternative.