While modern flip phones like the Motorola Razr and Galaxy Z Flip have been my daily drivers for the past few years, I’ve dabbled here and there in larger book-style foldables. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold was a good starting point to get the form factor on my radar, while the OPPO Find N5 thoroughly impressed me with its great design and build quality. However, none of them were enough to convince me that book-style foldables were the way to go.
Then everything changed when the Galaxy Z TriFold and Motorola Razr Fold attacked. These two phones were recently announced, and one is already available in a few markets. To my surprise, both phones have me giving book-style foldables another look, and I’m very tempted to give up my allegiance to flip phones. However, the Razr Fold and Galaxy Z TriFold are tempting me for very different reasons.
The Razr Fold is a chance for Motorola to play one of its biggest strengths
For years, Motorola was largely seen as the go-to budget brand, and it still is to some extent to this day. The company’s Moto G lineup continues to be successful in markets around the world, offering plenty of value in phones that don’t cost an arm and a leg.
The same can be said for its higher-end models. Motorola has been good about providing a balance between specs and price, often undercutting the competition. The Motorola Edge Plus 2023 was a great example of this, offering flagship specs that rivaled (and in some ways bested) the Galaxy S23 Plus but for hundreds less.
I expect Motorola to apply the same ethos to the Razr Fold. Foldable phones are already quite pricey, with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 actually costing more than its predecessor, hitting a whopping $2,000. As nice as the phone is, nothing about that sounds tempting to me. But maybe for a few hundred dollars less, I could be swayed.
Some good news and bad news regarding Moto. The Razr Fold will supposedly be very aggressively priced, starting at $1500 in the US. But at least one stateside carrier may be cutting Motorola devices out of its lineup completely: AT&T is reportedly considering saying, um,…January 6, 2026
While the excellent Razr Ultra 2025 is arguably a bit pricier than it should be, it came after years of offering compelling flip phones at the same and cheaper prices than its closest competition. And part of the appeal of flip phones is that they’re cheaper than book-style foldables. The company still offers one of the most affordable flip phones around with the Razr 2025, which is arguably a better deal than the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE.
With the Razr Fold, it can do the same, undercut its rivals, and offer something a little easier on the wallet.
Plus, Motorola still has arguably the best overall flip phone experience, utilizing the cover screen in a way that others can’t or won’t emulate. Who’s to say it can’t do something equally unique with a fold? After all, Motorola is launching an S Pen-like stylus with the Razr Fold at a time when Samsung ditched S Pen support for its foldable.
The Galaxy Z TriFold does what we thought other foldables did
Book-style foldables have always been seen by some as a mix of a regular smartphone and a tablet. They offer a unique ability to be used as a traditional phone with the added advantage of opening up to a “tablet-like” experience with a much larger display. However, they usually measure a meager 8 inches and have a more square aspect ratio, which doesn’t exactly scream “tablet.”
That’s not to say the larger displays on these foldables aren’t useful, but the experience still feels confined compared to a traditional Android tablet.
As a remedy to this shortcoming, the Galaxy Z TriFold takes that concept and runs with it, opening up to a full 10-inch display. This size is on the lower end of most tablets, which are often 10 or 11 inches, while still providing a more tablet-like aspect ratio that we don’t see on bi-fold foldables. The result is a more versatile experience that should proove more useful.
Samsung also took it further by letting the TriFold run a standalone DeX mode, meaning you won’t need an external display to make it work, just like on its tablets. Unlike the standard One UI experience, this offers a more desktop-like feel, letting users freely adjust windows and run apps side-by-side without the limitations of the typical mobile experience.
It also means running up to 20 apps across several desktop workspaces, making the Galaxy Z TriFold the ultimate multitasking machine. Essentially, you can think of it as a medium between a smartphone and tablet experience, blending the two in a way that seems fitting for such a device.
Of course, the downside here is that the Galaxy Z TriFold doesn’t come cheap. U.S. pricing still hasn’t been confirmed, but if Korean pricing is anything to go by, it’ll cost significantly more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. That’s already more than I’m willing to pay for a phone, which is honestly a bummer because TriFold feels like the final form of foldables, which gets me truly excited for the form factor.
It’s a good time for foldables
Ultimately, Motorola and Samsung chose good times to introduce their latest foldable offerings. IDC points out that despite the higher price, book-style foldables have proven themselves by finally pushing sales past those of flip phones. This gives Motorola an easy way to improve its growing market share while providing Samsung yet another avenue to show consumers that it can innovate and keep things fresh and exciting.
I still love flip phones for their portability and nostalgia, but I’m excited for what’s to come with larger foldables.
That said, which foldable form factor do you prefer? Leave us a comment and let us know!