Samsung just unveiled its $900 Galaxy Flip 7 FE, the most affordable foldable phone the company has ever released. Despite that position in Samsung's history, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is still notably pricier than the $700 Motorola Razr 2025, leaving a decided gap in cost that makes their value comparison even more intriguing.
That's because Samsung and Motorola have been neck and neck in pushing the envelope for clamshell foldables. The first modern-era Motorola Razr came out in early 2020 and the initial Samsung Galaxy Z Flip came out months later, and ever since, the companies have launched annual refinements iterating on their designs. Last year, however, Motorola split its Razr series into a pair of models, a cheaper one and a premium one, to appeal to two different potential owners. As a result, Motorola has sold around 3 million flip smartphones since 2022, according to an April report by Counterpoint Research. Now Samsung has a model that's trying to compete when it comes to more cost-conscious phone buyers.
The $200 gap between the Razr 2025 and the new Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE makes the choice very simple for some phone buyers: If they prioritize affordability, there isn't much in Samsung's clamshell that should convince them to opt for the pricier handset.
But a deeper comparison reveals the specific audience for each foldable. The Motorola Razr 2025 is for folks who want a clamshell foldable for less than a premium iPhone 16 or Samsung Galaxy S25 and don't mind lower specs. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is for folks who want to pay a little more for higher performance but don't want to spend the full $1,100 for a Galaxy Z Flip 7 or Motorola Razr Ultra (2025).
Though we haven't tested the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE yet, its specs and similarity to last year's Galaxy Z Flip 6 do give us a good idea of what it's capable of -- and with some less-impressive benchmarks scored by the Motorola Razr 2025, it's possible the Samsung outpaces it. Samsung's Flip 7 FE lacks the Snapdragon processor the Flip 6 had, however, so its performance might be closer to the Motorola's. Here's a proper rundown of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE versus the Motorola Razr 2025.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE. Joe Maldonado/CNET/PCMag
Design and display
You'd be excused for thinking these flip phones look roughly identical. Both devices fold in half, have an outer cover display with twin cameras that can be used while the phone is folded up or unfolded flat, and an inner display with a selfie camera that can only be used when the device is opened up (say, for a video chat). Both also have IP48 water and dust resistance, so they're protected from being submerged in water for up to half an hour, and they have somewhat of a shield against dust, though they shouldn't be around a lot of it, or around sand.
The starkest visual difference lies with the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE's 3.4-inch AMOLED cover screen (720 by 748 pixels), which has an angled cutout around its dual rear cameras. The Motorola Razr 2025, on the other hand, has its 3.6-inch AMOLED cover screen display (1,056 by 1,066 pixels) wrap around the cameras, resulting in more screen real estate (though the lenses block some of that).
Bright sunlight may be tough to see on either phone's cover display, as Motorola's handset has a maximum brightness of 1,700 nits, while the Samsung foldable's outer screen tops out at 1,600 nits. But the Razr 2025 is smoother, with a 90Hz refresh rate compared with the Z Flip 7 FE's 60Hz.
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