GoKawiilMotorola's new Razr lineup will be announced Wednesday, and the company's likely going to give a lot of spotlight to its Razr Ultra follow-up and the new Razr Fold. These foldable phones will probably be expensive and, in the US, serve as Motorola's premium flagship option to rival the Pro and Ultra models from Apple, Samsung and Google.
Watch this: Motorola Razr Fold Hands-On: Sleek Design With a Luxury Finish 02:09
Yet despite highlights including the Razr Ultra's large unfolding screen and fashion-forward materials including Alcantara fabric, Motorola typically falls behind in key areas, such as the long-term software support that buyers of a $1,300-plus device have come to expect. Current Razr rumors also point to an even higher $1,500 starting price for the Razr Ultra, possibly due to rising electronics costs.
This means that if Motorola's going to sell the Razr Ultra at a price that's even higher than Samsung's $1,300 Galaxy S26 Ultra, it's going to need all the perks in order to match up. My colleague Abrar Al-Heeti has her own Razr Ultra wishlist of perks she hopes will come to the next phone, and I noticed that some of her requests -- including more software updates and an updated design -- might be more attainable than they seem. That's because Motorola already offers some of these features in its international phones, and the Razr Ultra may be well positioned to bring improvements such as a thinner design, faster charging and more software support stateside.
The new Motorola Signature includes lots of high-end features that should come to the Razr. Prakhar Khanna/CNET
Motorola's Signature is the model that should come to the Razr Ultra
My chief complaint with nearly all of Motorola's US phones has been software support. Last year's Razr lineup came with three years of software updates and four years of security updates. While many people change out their phones every three years, most premium flagship phones on the market since 2024 have upped their software and security update support to six or seven years for those who might instead choose to hold onto their devices for longer.
This is becoming even more critical as we watch all kinds of electronics increase in price, whether due to tariff concerns, the cost of memory components or plain inflation.
Read more: Smartphone Prices Are Still Climbing. Here Are 3 Ways to Get Around That
Motorola began improving how long it supports its high-end phones, beginning with the Motorola Signature that was released in international markets earlier this year. This device includes many of the specs that we know are heading to the upcoming Motorola Razr Fold, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, a silicon-carbon battery, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
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