I used the Razr Fold and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Only one keeps winning me over

I was reminded of a scene from the movie Margin Call when the Motorola Razr Fold was first announced. Jeremy Irons’ character explained that there are three ways to get ahead in business. You can be first, be smarter than everyone else, or you can cheat.

Motorola wasn’t going to be first to market with a book-style foldable, so that was out. I figured the company would come up with decent hardware, but I thought the only way for Motorola to have a chance would be the equivalent of cheating — cut the price so deeply that the value was irresistible.

As it turns out, Motorola went with door number two, delivering what I believe is the best book-style foldable you can buy. However, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is no slouch, and Google’s done plenty to upgrade its third-gen foldable. I’ve used both, and deciding between them is tricky.

I didn’t know what to expect when I got my hands on the Motorola Razr Fold. I knew I loved Motorola’s other foldable Razrs, but asking people to shell out close to $2,000 for a book-style fold is another category entirely. To my surprise, I love it. Motorola hit all the right notes to make a high-quality foldable, and it’s the one I recommend to most people. The design is pleasant enough, and I appreciate the textured back. It gives me the confidence to use the phone without a case, which is fantastic because I can’t stand the cases made for folding phones.

It’s not a light phone by any means, and if you’ve held a Galaxy Z Fold 7, you’ll immediately feel all of the Razr Fold’s 243g. Still, I approve of the design, and the Razr Fold feels excellent in the hand. I wouldn’t typically discuss the cameras on a Motorola phone this high up in a comparison, but the Razr Fold is an exception. Its triple 50MP camera setup is fantastic, making the Razr Fold the ideal device for people who always complain about not getting flagship-worthy cameras on expensive folding phones.

It produces saturated images with deep contrast — exactly what I want to post on social media. I get more use out of the 3x telephoto than I thought I would, and you won’t be disappointed with its performance.

The battery is another area where Motorola pulls ahead. The Razr Fold features a massive 6,000mAh silicon-carbon cell. I can easily get into a second day of use on a single charge. Battery life is important to me on a book-style fold. I hate having an expansive (and inviting) internal display available but not being able to use it most of the time for fear of draining the battery. I don’t have that worry with the Razr Fold. I can use the inner display the entire day without breaking a sweat. It also features 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging — both easily besting what Google offers on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.

Software is always a mixed bag with Motorola, even though the company has done a slightly better job with the Razr Fold. Moto is promising seven years of software upgrades and support, which is big coming from Motorola. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing what that will look like. Motorola doesn’t have a stellar track record of delivering updates on time, and bi-monthly patches have slipped to tri-monthly before. Android version upgrades are slow to arrive, and it’s hard to quantify what extended software support will mean for the Razr Fold.

Thankfully, what’s on the device right now is pretty good. Android 16 is running well, and I love how Motorola handles multitasking. From any app, I can easily switch to a window or split-screen view by clicking the three dots at the top of the screen. It’s easy to pick another app to pair, and I’m on my way. Multitasking is one of the advantages book-style foldables have to lean into to justify their high prices, and the Razr Fold does it best.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, paired with 16GB of RAM, delivers snappy performance, and I never found myself disappointed that Motorola didn’t opt for a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

I also appreciate that the Razr Fold supports a stylus. It seems a shame to have an 8.1-inch internal display only to not be able to use it as a canvas. If you’re a content creator or use a stylus for work, the Razr Fold is your best (and only) bet in the US.

All told, Motorola did a wonderful job with its first attempt, and it’s a device I find myself constantly going back to when I’m not testing other phones.

Despite my love of the Razr Fold, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is an excellent phone, and there are legitimate reasons to pick one up. I prefer that the inner display is more landscape-dominant, giving me a little extra room for two apps running side-by-side. The Razr Fold may not be light, but the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a chonker, tipping the scales at 258g — and you can feel it. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is a dense phone in the hands.

It’s not all bad news: Google’s book-style foldable is more durable, with an IP68 rating. How much stock you put in that rating, given all the noise and testing surrounding the phone at launch, is up to you, but it’s better to have it than not — especially if you spend a significant amount of time outdoors.

What really sets the Pixel 10 Pro Fold apart from the Razr Fold is the software. As you’d expect, my Pixel is already running Android 17, and it’s a fantastic update. Google promises seven years of software support, and unlike Motorola, I have a much clearer picture of what that will look like. Not only are Google’s updates more timely, but the company does a solid job optimizing them for older hardware. The updates are rarely perfect, and plenty of people experienced issues when upgrading to Android 17, but on the whole, Google’s software has been worth the price of admission.

Unfortunately, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s multitasking didn’t get the upgrade I hoped for. I love app bubbles on Android 17, and they function as you’d expect on the cover screen. However, when unfolded, they are confined to the Bubble Bar at either the bottom left or right of the display. It’s an annoying limitation, and one I hope Google revisits soon.

Similar to the Razr Fold, I don’t have any complaints about the Tensor G5 powering the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Performance is snappy and smooth, especially paired with 16GB of RAM. There’s little noticeable edge in performance between the two phones.

It may not include silicon-carbon battery tech, but the Pixel 10 Pro Fold gets the most from its over 5,000mAh cell — even though its 30W wired charging speed lags woefully behind. I can use the inner display for the entire day on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, with enough left over to get well into the next day before it’s time to recharge. I’ve fallen in love with my Pixelsnap accessories rather unexpectedly. I enjoy gripping my Pixel 10 Pro Fold with the Pixelsnap ring attachment, and my Pixelsnap charger still sits on my desk. Full Qi2 compatibility is a benefit that more people should appreciate.

Google may no longer dominate the camera competition with its phones, but the Pixel 10 Pro Fold still holds its own. I may prefer the images I get from the Razr Fold, and I believe it’s the better point-and-shoot device for those who don’t want to do much editing. However, Google’s Night Sight is formidable, and when the lighting gets suspect, I know the Pixel 10 Pro Fold will deliver.

It’s worth noting that the Pixel 11 Pro Fold reveal is most likely right around the corner. As such, there are some rather enticing deals on this year’s model. I saw Amazon Prime Day pricing dip to around $1,500, and you can pick one up on Amazon Renewed right now for just over $1,000, making it an attractive package. I’m sure the Razr Fold’s pricing will come down over the course of the year, but there will be a price gap between the two either way.

All things considered, I’d rather have the Motorola Razr Fold in my pocket. It’s a really well-done phone, and it checks most of the boxes I’d want in a foldable.

It’s not an easy decision between the two, but Motorola pulls ahead.