There’s little denying that Apple’s Air Tag has helped make Bluetooth trackers more mainstream than ever before, and a lot of this is due to its great network and support for extra features like UWB for precision accuracy. The new Google Find My Device network aims to offer a lot of the same improvements as Apple, but there’s still a lack of decent trackers available. Thankfully the arrival of the Moto Tag helps rectify this issue.

The Moto Tag was first announced in late June but the device is now officially available starting today. Unfortunately, it’s still unavailable on sites like Amazon, though you can get a four-pack for $99 right now from Motorola’s website, which will give you two units in Starlight Blue and 2 in Sage  Green. You can also get an individual tracker for $29 but the only color currently available is Sage Green.

As you’ve likely gathered, the Moto Tag is essentially a clone of the Air Tag, at least in terms of design. This might seem like a blatant rip-off and you might be right, but this is actually a good thing for consumers because the Moto Tag’s design makes it fully compatible with the majority of Air Tag accessories. It’s also priced the same and has a few useful extras, such as a built-in button that lets you use it as a remote shutter for any Android device. Unlike every other Android tracker out there, there’s even a UWB chip inside.

This chip should allow you to communicate with other UWB devices for better tracking, but from what we can gather, Find My Device doesn’t formally support UWB yet. What does this mean? It’s possible the feature will be formally announced by Google soon, or that Motorola will require an in-house app for extra UWB functionality. Regardless, this is looking to be the best Android Bluetooth tracker on the market so far.

Everyone loves an underdog story. Names like Rudy, Rocky, and Bilbo get us to root for the undersized, underpowered hero in the face of unthinkable odds every time. For a while, my favorite underdog story was the one where Motorola, the original king of the flip phone, tried to reclaim its crown from Samsung. It pitted the Razr against the Galaxy Z Flip, hoping that nostalgia, a slightly bigger cover screen, and a cleaner Android skin would take it back to the top.

At first, it didn’t work. Samsung grabbed all of the headlines for its Galaxy Z Flip series, drawing me into the world of flip phones. Then, Motorola skipped a year or two, practicing and creating the training montage that every good underdog flick needs. Now, Motorola is back with its second Razr Plus, and I don’t think it’s an underdog anymore. The Motorola Razr Plus (2024) vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is finally a flip phone title match.

Little screens, big expectations

Falling in love with a flip phone is all about how you use the big screen — or rather, the not-so-big screen. And when it comes to the Motorola Razr Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, the cover screens are about as different as can be. Where Samsung’s experience is locked down and measured, Motorola’s is open and flexible. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 forces apps into a smaller, square window within its folder-shaped panel, while the Razr Plus allows them to stretch across its entire display, even if the camera cutouts are in the way. Somehow, the acceptance of imperfection is what wins me over.

I understand why Samsung didn’t change its latest Flex Window from the 3.4-inch Super AMOLED panel it introduced on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 — most people still haven’t tried a flip phone, let alone purchased one. Unfortunately, that also means it hasn’t fixed what people (or at least I) didn’t like about the complicated software experience, either. Good Lock is still a requirement if you want to put more than Maps, YouTube, and Google Messages (not Samsung Messages) in your app drawer. I, of course, jumped through the hoops to get the rest of my apps on the Flex Window, but I had to reference the guide I wrote a year ago explaining how to do it. It feels like an over-engineered solution to a problem that Motorola just ignored — the fact that apps optimized for tall, thin phone displays won’t run perfectly on short, square cover screens.

Sorry, Samsung, but one app drawer is always better than two.

To its credit, Samsung has an excellent set of widgets on the Galaxy Z Flip 6. They’re set up so that you can combine multiple widgets on each panel of the Flex Window, making it almost feel like a giant Galaxy Watch or a small Nest display. One or two — like Spotify — need a layout all their own, but I can appreciate having my calendar, weather forecast, and easy access to a voice recorder all on one page, even if they don’t offer as much information right up front.

And yet, I still think I like Motorola’s experience better. The Razr Plus gained some extra real estate for 2024, stretching from 3.6 inches to an even 4-inch AMOLED panel that covers almost the entire top of the phone. It’s an overpowered display, combining a variable 165Hz refresh rate with up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness and packing in nearly 100 more pixels per inch than its Samsung rival. Motorola’s cameras are less intrusive, too, sitting in lower, rounded housings instead of Samsung’s relatively tall, color-matched rings.

Design and specs aside, I prefer Motorola’s cover screen because of the software experience and its willingness to embrace imperfection. Yes, it sounds backward, but it’s true. I just finished saying how tall, thin apps don’t work as well on short, square displays, but Motorola at least lets them try with as much of its display as possible. You can add any app to your cover screen drawer with a simple flip of a toggle, and Motorola programmed a button to push apps above the camera cutouts should they block parts of the interface. It lets me doom scroll through Instagram, catch up on House of the Dragon on a display it was never meant to be seen on, and try to outscore fellow tech journalists in Freekick Football without opening my phone.

Samsung doesn’t get all the credit for the best widgets, either. Although Motorola’s aren’t quite as flexible — you can’t put several on one page — they offer far more information upfront. When I set up my Razr Plus, it came with games, access to my contacts, my calendar, and the weather right out of the box — oh, and just one app drawer to worry about. The Galaxy Z Flip 6, on the other hand, gave me a weather widget in the corner of one panel, leaving me to do the rest on my own. Some people might love that flexibility, but it could create a steep learning curve for those who’ve never used a flip phone.

Opposing viewpoints

Even though I don’t think the Razr Plus is an underdog anymore, part of that mentality still exists within the phone. Specifically, the fact that underdogs usually have to be clever and try new things to outsmart their opponent, be it Chick Hicks, Davy Jones, or the Globo Gym Purple Cobras. To its credit, Motorola decided to think differently about the cameras on its latest Razr Plus. I’m just not sure if this is a winning strategy.

Instead of sticking with the wide and ultrawide combination that we’re used to on flip phones — well, and any other dual-camera device — Motorola decided to double down on portrait mode. It upgraded its 12MP primary camera to a sharper 50MP sensor, then ditched the reliable 13MP ultrawide camera for a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom. Normally, I’d be thrilled since I’m not the biggest believer in the ultrawide field of view, but there’s something about a telephoto sensor in this form factor that doesn’t feel quite right.

Motorola went all-in on portrait mode... only to limit its cover screen to 1x zoom.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that a dual-camera flip phone can zoom in as far as the triple-camera Galaxy S24, but that’s not where phones like this are at their strongest. I prefer to use the Razr Plus and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 closed, treating their large primary sensors like super-powered selfie cameras. But when I do that, I rarely exceed 0.5x or 1x zoom — neither of which needs a telephoto sensor. Perhaps more confusingly, the Razr Plus won’t let you zoom beyond 1x on its cover screen, saving all of its portrait power for when the phone is open.

Samsung, on the other hand, follows the underdog vs rival story perfectly (at least in Hollywood terms). It knows what works, and it stuck with it. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 packs the wide and ultrawide camera pairing that it’s had since the beginning, this time with a higher-resolution 50MP primary sensor for the bulk of your shooting. Sure, it has smaller individual pixels and bins by default (Motorola does, too), but the swap means that Samsung can crop its sensor for 2x optical zoom. Oh, and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 lets you zoom in on the cover screen, no telephoto sensor required.

Samsung’s flip phone finally supports Expert RAW now, too, in case you want even more control over your camera settings. Though, once again, it’s more fun to pull up the front cameras and snap away. And, if you’re going to do that, Samsung’s Auto Zoom makes it much easier to frame your shot and automatically zoom before you use a gesture to take your photo. It’s not lightning fast — the camera takes a second or two to identify you — but it’s made life significantly easier when lining up pictures with friends.

Here are just a few shots and some of my thoughts from both cameras:

Motorola Razr Plus

It feels somewhat unfair to the Galaxy Z Flip 6 that I’ve spent more time with the Motorola Razr Plus, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. The Razr Plus has come with me for several adventures, including its own launch event in Brooklyn, a trip to the Guinness Open Gate Brewery here in Baltimore, and a stop at an Orioles game. I’ve put it through its paces at all of my stops, and I’ve picked up on a few things. For starters, I’m still not convinced that it needs a telephoto camera. Sure, it’s capable of 2x optical zoom, but everything beyond 4x is pretty much digital, and it all looks pretty rough. The 30x image of a player at home plate looks closer to a painting, which isn’t a great thing.

The Razr Plus struggles a bit with shadows, too. In the second row of photos, it’s tough to pick out the centers of the metal flowers around the archway, and the Razr Plus darkened my friend Derrek’s face even though we took a selfie in the middle of a bright warehouse. But hey, I used a Razr to take a picture of Paris Hilton, the original Razr influencer, so that’s something.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6

As mentioned, I haven’t spent quite as long with the Galaxy Z Flip 6, but it’s long enough to notice a few things. For starters, I definitely missed having an ultrawide angle during my time with the Razr Plus. Living in a tall city, there are plenty of times when you want to fit just a little bit more in your shot. Also, Samsung definitely skews to a darker color profile. The mural of a jaguar is lighter in real life, and the statue of two lacrosse players is as well. Sometimes, the darker hues work out for Samsung — its greens are still extremely punchy, but I don’t think I’d call it true to life.

Things like recording video from either side and taking selfies on the internal cameras generally come out in the wash. The Razr Plus (2024) and Galaxy Z Flip 6 support up to 4K video at 60fps, 1080p at 240fps, and HDR10 Plus from their primary cameras, both with optical image stabilization. Motorola’s 32MP punch hole selfie camera and Samsung’s 10MP option are both fine, too, but I’ve hardly used either one because of how much better the primary cameras are.

Need for power, need for speed

Our ex-underdog still has one major limitation in its quest to dethrone the Galaxy Z Flip 6, though — its chipset can’t quite keep up. While both the Razr Plus and Galaxy Z Flip 6 ship with the same base RAM and storage (12GB and 256GB, respectively), the modified configuration of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is no match for Samsung’s overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. In film terms, Anakin Skywalker’s podracer doesn’t get the same thrust from its engines as Sebulba’s.

As we all know, Anakin wins the Boonta Eve Classic in the end, but it’s not down to raw power. If it were, he’d lose every time, just like the Razr Plus does in most of our benchmarking tests against the Galaxy Z Flip 6. The difference isn’t always a big one — the single-core Geekbench 6 and PC Mark tests were relatively close — but Samsung’s flip phone opens a much wider gap regarding graphics. Its performance in the Wild Life test started at triple the score of the Razr Plus, and even after 20 runs, it remained more than 50% higher than its competitor. Much of the gap in graphics performance comes back to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 using an older GPU, so sometimes it pays to grab the latest chipset.

Of course, it’s not all bad news for the Razr Plus. It still puts in a solid shift and feels capable of making it through a mixed day of usage — so long as you trust the cover display for lighter tasks. Honestly, you’re probably not going to notice too many of the gains from Samsung’s more powerful chipset anyway — it might be a hair quicker here and there, but both chipsets are perfectly capable of cruising through day-to-day tasks like web browsing, answering emails, and a little bit of gaming anyway.

Where the Razr Plus does make up some significant ground is in its battery life and charging setup. Like Anakin, it might not be more powerful, but it can run longer and return to full strength quicker. Both the Razr Plus and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 pack 4,000mAh batteries, and in our battery drain test, Samsung’s flip phone only ran away in one category: 4K video playback. It more than doubled the Razr Plus’ performance, which is great news if you watch a lot of high-resolution videos, but Motorola came out at least slightly ahead in Zoom calling, web browsing, camera snapping, and even gaming battery life, a mix of which you’re more likely to do throughout the day.

Motorola also keeps its edge (pun intended) when it comes to charging. The Razr Plus (2024) offers Galaxy S24 Ultra-level 45W wired TurboPower charging, which easily beats the Galaxy Z Flip 6’s 25W wired speed with a compatible charger. Both tie in 15W wireless charging, though Motorola has a slight advantage in reverse wireless speeds, too, at 5W instead of 4.5W.

Galaxy AI still reigns supreme

Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about 2024’s buzzword of the year — AI. One of the most important pieces of both Samsung’s and Motorola’s choice in the chipset is that both Snapdragon models support on-device AI features. From there, it’s up to the two companies to see how quickly they can roll out their respective features.

So far, like every underdog story worth its salt, Samsung is winning. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is further ahead in all manner of Galaxy AI-powered features, with things like Auto Zoom, Sketch to Image, and Portrait Studio debuting in One UI 6.1.1. They’re new additions on top of Circle to Search, Live Translate, and Photo Assist, which Samsung introduced in previous generations. I’ve only really come to trust Circle to Search and Auto Zoom, as they feel the most straightforward, though I’ll also generate a wallpaper here and there — if you still want to classify that as exciting, on-device AI.

On the Razr Plus, Moto AI needs to catch up. Right now, Motorola is only ready to offer a few of its generative features, including two forms of wallpaper generation called Style Sync and Magic Canvas. It also has a couple of camera wrinkles — Adaptive Stabilization and Action Shot — but the best of its on-device power is coming… eventually. Remember that it took Motorola over a year to bring Android 14 to its previous Razr Plus, so who knows when “eventually” could be.

The Motorola Razr Plus (2024) finally deserves its crown

There are plenty of ways to end an underdog story. Rudy sacks the quarterback, Rocky wins the fight, and Luke Skywalker blows up the Death Star (or defeats the emperor, take your pick of Star Wars film). No matter which one you prefer, there still has to be a winner. And, despite its more useful pair of cameras, more powerful chipset, and longer update commitment, I can’t bring myself to pick the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Yes, it’s an excellent phone and easily Samsung’s most complete Galaxy Z Flip to date, but it also feels like a phone stuck spinning its wheels.

There are so many things that Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Flip 6 has in its corner. It has a better ecosystem of accessories, an almost infinitely customizable software experience, and a build quality that’s worthy of a museum display, and yet it feels too surgical and precise for my liking. There are phones I think should feel like well-oiled machines, like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, but they’re the opposite of the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Instead, this phone should be leaning on its uniqueness and embracing the fact that it’s smaller and more portable than a Klondike Bar.

Samsung's flip phone feels like a tool, but I prefer the imperfect flexibility of the Razr Plus.

Which is exactly what the Razr Plus does. Motorola’s top-end flip phone is less powerful, won’t get seven years of updates, and has cameras that make almost no sense in this form factor, and yet it’s by far the more enjoyable to use. The Razr Plus’ rounded frame is comfortable to hold and use for hours on end, while its vegan leather (or suede) back panel adds a softness and a pop of color that reminds me of the Motorola of old. I didn’t have to jump through any hoops to add an app drawer to the cover screen, nor did I have to reorganize the preloaded widgets — I just fired up the Razr Plus and got to exploring until my battery died. Then, I charged it back up at a speed that Samsung reserves only for products named Ultra.

Of course, I can’t speak for everyone. I know some Samsung die-hards will only consider the Galaxy Z Flip when they pick up a flip phone. They’ll happily spend the extra cash (Samsung bumped its price by $100) to stay within the Galaxy ecosystem. However, I will keep returning to the Razr Plus as long as Motorola continues to embrace the fun side of Android.

There’s little denying that Apple’s Air Tag has helped make Bluetooth trackers more mainstream than ever before, and a lot of this is due to its great network and support for extra features like UWB for precision accuracy. The new Google Find My Device network aims to offer a lot of the same improvements as Apple, but there’s still a lack of decent trackers available. Thankfully the arrival of the Moto Tag helps rectify this issue.

The Moto Tag was first announced in late June but the device is now officially available starting today. Unfortunately, it’s still unavailable on sites like Amazon, though you can get a four-pack for $99 right now from Motorola’s website, which will give you two units in Starlight Blue and 2 in Sage  Green. You can also get an individual tracker for $29 but the only color currently available is Sage Green.

As you’ve likely gathered, the Moto Tag is essentially a clone of the Air Tag, at least in terms of design. This might seem like a blatant rip-off and you might be right, but this is actually a good thing for consumers because the Moto Tag’s design makes it fully compatible with the majority of Air Tag accessories. It’s also priced the same and has a few useful extras, such as a built-in button that lets you use it as a remote shutter for any Android device. Unlike every other Android tracker out there, there’s even a UWB chip inside.

This chip should allow you to communicate with other UWB devices for better tracking, but from what we can gather, Find My Device doesn’t formally support UWB yet. What does this mean? It’s possible the feature will be formally announced by Google soon, or that Motorola will require an in-house app for extra UWB functionality. Regardless, this is looking to be the best Android Bluetooth tracker on the market so far.

Everyone loves an underdog story. Names like Rudy, Rocky, and Bilbo get us to root for the undersized, underpowered hero in the face of unthinkable odds every time. For a while, my favorite underdog story was the one where Motorola, the original king of the flip phone, tried to reclaim its crown from Samsung. It pitted the Razr against the Galaxy Z Flip, hoping that nostalgia, a slightly bigger cover screen, and a cleaner Android skin would take it back to the top.

At first, it didn’t work. Samsung grabbed all of the headlines for its Galaxy Z Flip series, drawing me into the world of flip phones. Then, Motorola skipped a year or two, practicing and creating the training montage that every good underdog flick needs. Now, Motorola is back with its second Razr Plus, and I don’t think it’s an underdog anymore. The Motorola Razr Plus (2024) vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is finally a flip phone title match.

Little screens, big expectations

Falling in love with a flip phone is all about how you use the big screen — or rather, the not-so-big screen. And when it comes to the Motorola Razr Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, the cover screens are about as different as can be. Where Samsung’s experience is locked down and measured, Motorola’s is open and flexible. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 forces apps into a smaller, square window within its folder-shaped panel, while the Razr Plus allows them to stretch across its entire display, even if the camera cutouts are in the way. Somehow, the acceptance of imperfection is what wins me over.

I understand why Samsung didn’t change its latest Flex Window from the 3.4-inch Super AMOLED panel it introduced on the Galaxy Z Flip 5 — most people still haven’t tried a flip phone, let alone purchased one. Unfortunately, that also means it hasn’t fixed what people (or at least I) didn’t like about the complicated software experience, either. Good Lock is still a requirement if you want to put more than Maps, YouTube, and Google Messages (not Samsung Messages) in your app drawer. I, of course, jumped through the hoops to get the rest of my apps on the Flex Window, but I had to reference the guide I wrote a year ago explaining how to do it. It feels like an over-engineered solution to a problem that Motorola just ignored — the fact that apps optimized for tall, thin phone displays won’t run perfectly on short, square cover screens.

Sorry, Samsung, but one app drawer is always better than two.

To its credit, Samsung has an excellent set of widgets on the Galaxy Z Flip 6. They’re set up so that you can combine multiple widgets on each panel of the Flex Window, making it almost feel like a giant Galaxy Watch or a small Nest display. One or two — like Spotify — need a layout all their own, but I can appreciate having my calendar, weather forecast, and easy access to a voice recorder all on one page, even if they don’t offer as much information right up front.

And yet, I still think I like Motorola’s experience better. The Razr Plus gained some extra real estate for 2024, stretching from 3.6 inches to an even 4-inch AMOLED panel that covers almost the entire top of the phone. It’s an overpowered display, combining a variable 165Hz refresh rate with up to 2,400 nits of peak brightness and packing in nearly 100 more pixels per inch than its Samsung rival. Motorola’s cameras are less intrusive, too, sitting in lower, rounded housings instead of Samsung’s relatively tall, color-matched rings.

Design and specs aside, I prefer Motorola’s cover screen because of the software experience and its willingness to embrace imperfection. Yes, it sounds backward, but it’s true. I just finished saying how tall, thin apps don’t work as well on short, square displays, but Motorola at least lets them try with as much of its display as possible. You can add any app to your cover screen drawer with a simple flip of a toggle, and Motorola programmed a button to push apps above the camera cutouts should they block parts of the interface. It lets me doom scroll through Instagram, catch up on House of the Dragon on a display it was never meant to be seen on, and try to outscore fellow tech journalists in Freekick Football without opening my phone.

Samsung doesn’t get all the credit for the best widgets, either. Although Motorola’s aren’t quite as flexible — you can’t put several on one page — they offer far more information upfront. When I set up my Razr Plus, it came with games, access to my contacts, my calendar, and the weather right out of the box — oh, and just one app drawer to worry about. The Galaxy Z Flip 6, on the other hand, gave me a weather widget in the corner of one panel, leaving me to do the rest on my own. Some people might love that flexibility, but it could create a steep learning curve for those who’ve never used a flip phone.

Opposing viewpoints

Even though I don’t think the Razr Plus is an underdog anymore, part of that mentality still exists within the phone. Specifically, the fact that underdogs usually have to be clever and try new things to outsmart their opponent, be it Chick Hicks, Davy Jones, or the Globo Gym Purple Cobras. To its credit, Motorola decided to think differently about the cameras on its latest Razr Plus. I’m just not sure if this is a winning strategy.

Instead of sticking with the wide and ultrawide combination that we’re used to on flip phones — well, and any other dual-camera device — Motorola decided to double down on portrait mode. It upgraded its 12MP primary camera to a sharper 50MP sensor, then ditched the reliable 13MP ultrawide camera for a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom. Normally, I’d be thrilled since I’m not the biggest believer in the ultrawide field of view, but there’s something about a telephoto sensor in this form factor that doesn’t feel quite right.

Motorola went all-in on portrait mode... only to limit its cover screen to 1x zoom.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that a dual-camera flip phone can zoom in as far as the triple-camera Galaxy S24, but that’s not where phones like this are at their strongest. I prefer to use the Razr Plus and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 closed, treating their large primary sensors like super-powered selfie cameras. But when I do that, I rarely exceed 0.5x or 1x zoom — neither of which needs a telephoto sensor. Perhaps more confusingly, the Razr Plus won’t let you zoom beyond 1x on its cover screen, saving all of its portrait power for when the phone is open.

Samsung, on the other hand, follows the underdog vs rival story perfectly (at least in Hollywood terms). It knows what works, and it stuck with it. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 packs the wide and ultrawide camera pairing that it’s had since the beginning, this time with a higher-resolution 50MP primary sensor for the bulk of your shooting. Sure, it has smaller individual pixels and bins by default (Motorola does, too), but the swap means that Samsung can crop its sensor for 2x optical zoom. Oh, and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 lets you zoom in on the cover screen, no telephoto sensor required.

Samsung’s flip phone finally supports Expert RAW now, too, in case you want even more control over your camera settings. Though, once again, it’s more fun to pull up the front cameras and snap away. And, if you’re going to do that, Samsung’s Auto Zoom makes it much easier to frame your shot and automatically zoom before you use a gesture to take your photo. It’s not lightning fast — the camera takes a second or two to identify you — but it’s made life significantly easier when lining up pictures with friends.

Here are just a few shots and some of my thoughts from both cameras:

Motorola Razr Plus

It feels somewhat unfair to the Galaxy Z Flip 6 that I’ve spent more time with the Motorola Razr Plus, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. The Razr Plus has come with me for several adventures, including its own launch event in Brooklyn, a trip to the Guinness Open Gate Brewery here in Baltimore, and a stop at an Orioles game. I’ve put it through its paces at all of my stops, and I’ve picked up on a few things. For starters, I’m still not convinced that it needs a telephoto camera. Sure, it’s capable of 2x optical zoom, but everything beyond 4x is pretty much digital, and it all looks pretty rough. The 30x image of a player at home plate looks closer to a painting, which isn’t a great thing.

The Razr Plus struggles a bit with shadows, too. In the second row of photos, it’s tough to pick out the centers of the metal flowers around the archway, and the Razr Plus darkened my friend Derrek’s face even though we took a selfie in the middle of a bright warehouse. But hey, I used a Razr to take a picture of Paris Hilton, the original Razr influencer, so that’s something.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6

As mentioned, I haven’t spent quite as long with the Galaxy Z Flip 6, but it’s long enough to notice a few things. For starters, I definitely missed having an ultrawide angle during my time with the Razr Plus. Living in a tall city, there are plenty of times when you want to fit just a little bit more in your shot. Also, Samsung definitely skews to a darker color profile. The mural of a jaguar is lighter in real life, and the statue of two lacrosse players is as well. Sometimes, the darker hues work out for Samsung — its greens are still extremely punchy, but I don’t think I’d call it true to life.

Things like recording video from either side and taking selfies on the internal cameras generally come out in the wash. The Razr Plus (2024) and Galaxy Z Flip 6 support up to 4K video at 60fps, 1080p at 240fps, and HDR10 Plus from their primary cameras, both with optical image stabilization. Motorola’s 32MP punch hole selfie camera and Samsung’s 10MP option are both fine, too, but I’ve hardly used either one because of how much better the primary cameras are.

Need for power, need for speed

Our ex-underdog still has one major limitation in its quest to dethrone the Galaxy Z Flip 6, though — its chipset can’t quite keep up. While both the Razr Plus and Galaxy Z Flip 6 ship with the same base RAM and storage (12GB and 256GB, respectively), the modified configuration of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is no match for Samsung’s overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. In film terms, Anakin Skywalker’s podracer doesn’t get the same thrust from its engines as Sebulba’s.

As we all know, Anakin wins the Boonta Eve Classic in the end, but it’s not down to raw power. If it were, he’d lose every time, just like the Razr Plus does in most of our benchmarking tests against the Galaxy Z Flip 6. The difference isn’t always a big one — the single-core Geekbench 6 and PC Mark tests were relatively close — but Samsung’s flip phone opens a much wider gap regarding graphics. Its performance in the Wild Life test started at triple the score of the Razr Plus, and even after 20 runs, it remained more than 50% higher than its competitor. Much of the gap in graphics performance comes back to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 using an older GPU, so sometimes it pays to grab the latest chipset.

Of course, it’s not all bad news for the Razr Plus. It still puts in a solid shift and feels capable of making it through a mixed day of usage — so long as you trust the cover display for lighter tasks. Honestly, you’re probably not going to notice too many of the gains from Samsung’s more powerful chipset anyway — it might be a hair quicker here and there, but both chipsets are perfectly capable of cruising through day-to-day tasks like web browsing, answering emails, and a little bit of gaming anyway.

Where the Razr Plus does make up some significant ground is in its battery life and charging setup. Like Anakin, it might not be more powerful, but it can run longer and return to full strength quicker. Both the Razr Plus and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 pack 4,000mAh batteries, and in our battery drain test, Samsung’s flip phone only ran away in one category: 4K video playback. It more than doubled the Razr Plus’ performance, which is great news if you watch a lot of high-resolution videos, but Motorola came out at least slightly ahead in Zoom calling, web browsing, camera snapping, and even gaming battery life, a mix of which you’re more likely to do throughout the day.

Motorola also keeps its edge (pun intended) when it comes to charging. The Razr Plus (2024) offers Galaxy S24 Ultra-level 45W wired TurboPower charging, which easily beats the Galaxy Z Flip 6’s 25W wired speed with a compatible charger. Both tie in 15W wireless charging, though Motorola has a slight advantage in reverse wireless speeds, too, at 5W instead of 4.5W.

Galaxy AI still reigns supreme

Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about 2024’s buzzword of the year — AI. One of the most important pieces of both Samsung’s and Motorola’s choice in the chipset is that both Snapdragon models support on-device AI features. From there, it’s up to the two companies to see how quickly they can roll out their respective features.

So far, like every underdog story worth its salt, Samsung is winning. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is further ahead in all manner of Galaxy AI-powered features, with things like Auto Zoom, Sketch to Image, and Portrait Studio debuting in One UI 6.1.1. They’re new additions on top of Circle to Search, Live Translate, and Photo Assist, which Samsung introduced in previous generations. I’ve only really come to trust Circle to Search and Auto Zoom, as they feel the most straightforward, though I’ll also generate a wallpaper here and there — if you still want to classify that as exciting, on-device AI.

On the Razr Plus, Moto AI needs to catch up. Right now, Motorola is only ready to offer a few of its generative features, including two forms of wallpaper generation called Style Sync and Magic Canvas. It also has a couple of camera wrinkles — Adaptive Stabilization and Action Shot — but the best of its on-device power is coming… eventually. Remember that it took Motorola over a year to bring Android 14 to its previous Razr Plus, so who knows when “eventually” could be.

The Motorola Razr Plus (2024) finally deserves its crown

There are plenty of ways to end an underdog story. Rudy sacks the quarterback, Rocky wins the fight, and Luke Skywalker blows up the Death Star (or defeats the emperor, take your pick of Star Wars film). No matter which one you prefer, there still has to be a winner. And, despite its more useful pair of cameras, more powerful chipset, and longer update commitment, I can’t bring myself to pick the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Yes, it’s an excellent phone and easily Samsung’s most complete Galaxy Z Flip to date, but it also feels like a phone stuck spinning its wheels.

There are so many things that Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Flip 6 has in its corner. It has a better ecosystem of accessories, an almost infinitely customizable software experience, and a build quality that’s worthy of a museum display, and yet it feels too surgical and precise for my liking. There are phones I think should feel like well-oiled machines, like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max, but they’re the opposite of the Galaxy Z Flip 6. Instead, this phone should be leaning on its uniqueness and embracing the fact that it’s smaller and more portable than a Klondike Bar.

Samsung's flip phone feels like a tool, but I prefer the imperfect flexibility of the Razr Plus.

Which is exactly what the Razr Plus does. Motorola’s top-end flip phone is less powerful, won’t get seven years of updates, and has cameras that make almost no sense in this form factor, and yet it’s by far the more enjoyable to use. The Razr Plus’ rounded frame is comfortable to hold and use for hours on end, while its vegan leather (or suede) back panel adds a softness and a pop of color that reminds me of the Motorola of old. I didn’t have to jump through any hoops to add an app drawer to the cover screen, nor did I have to reorganize the preloaded widgets — I just fired up the Razr Plus and got to exploring until my battery died. Then, I charged it back up at a speed that Samsung reserves only for products named Ultra.

Of course, I can’t speak for everyone. I know some Samsung die-hards will only consider the Galaxy Z Flip when they pick up a flip phone. They’ll happily spend the extra cash (Samsung bumped its price by $100) to stay within the Galaxy ecosystem. However, I will keep returning to the Razr Plus as long as Motorola continues to embrace the fun side of Android.

Google launched its Find My Device network earlier this year, and several brands have already chipped in with tracking tags. It looks like Motorola’s offering is a step closer to release with a new regulatory filing.

The Motorola Moto Tag was listed by the FCC today (h/t: IT Home), and it supports Bluetooth LE and UWB connectivity. The latter feature means that you can expect more fine-tuned, granular tracking support compared to a Bluetooth-only tracker.

This filing also reveals that the tracker, which has the model number XT2445-1, runs on a standard watch battery (CR2032). That means sourcing replacement batteries shouldn’t be a problem.

The listing doesn’t confirm whether this device will support Google’s Find My Device network. However, the search colossus previously noted that Motorola would offer a compatible tracker later this year. So it stands to reason that the Moto Tag is the product in question.

There’s no official word on a launch date just yet, but the company is holding a launch event on June 25. Motorola is expected to unveil its Razr 2024 foldable phones, but we’re guessing it could also reveal the Moto Tag on the day.

Many Android phones sold in the US come with a one-year warranty, while the European Union and several other markets mandate a two-year warranty for devices. What if two years isn’t enough for you? Well, Motorola has a phone for you — if you live in the right country.

Motorola has revealed that the upcoming Moto S50 Neo budget smartphone will have a four-year warranty, beating warranty offerings from other manufacturers.

The four-year warranty consists of a one-year warranty plus a free, three-year extended warranty service, according to the fine print in an official image (below).

The Moto S50 Neo is also confirmed to come with a 5,000mAh battery while weighing just 171 grams. The phone has apparently surfaced on China’s TENAA regulatory website too, featuring an FHD+ OLED screen, a 2.3GHz octa-core chip, a 50MP+8MP rear camera pairing, and a 32MP selfie snapper.

Unfortunately, the Moto S50 Neo and the accompanying warranty offer seem to be China-only affairs for now. We’ve asked Motorola whether it plans to offer four-year warranties for any phones in the US, and will update the article accordingly. But we’d love to see it or other brands up the ante with four-year warranties in global markets.

Counterpoint Research previously predicted that people would hold onto their phones for roughly 40 months in 2023. We’ve also seen several manufacturers offer five or even seven years of software updates. So it seems sensible for warranties and spare parts availability to match these software promises.

Android Auto is one of those things that just works and really makes the car ride home that much better. Not only can you transform any compatible head unit into something completely modern with access to a variety of different apps, you're also going to get a safer ride thanks to the wealth of technology built into the experience.

Should you buy the Motorola Moto G 5G (2024)?

Should you buy the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2024)?

JEDEC and the Open Compute Project rolled out a new set of guidelines for standardizing chiplet characterization details, such as thermal properties, physical and mechanical requirements, and behavior specs. Those details have been a sticking point for commercial chiplets, because without them it’s not possible to choose the best chiplet for a particular application or workload. The guidelines are a prerequisite for a multi-vendor chiplet marketplace.

AMD, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, HPE, Intel, Meta, and Microsoft proposed a new high-speed, low-latency interconnect specification, Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink), between accelerators and switches in AI computing pods. The 1.0 specification will enable the connection of up to 1,024 accelerators within a pod and allow for direct loads and stores between the memory attached to accelerators.

Arm debuted a range of new CPUs, including the Cortex-X925 for on-device generative AI, and the Cortex-A725 with improved efficiency for AI and mobile gaming. It also announced the Immortalis-G925 GPU for flagship smartphones, and the Mali-G725/625 GPUs for consumer devices. Additionally, Arm announced Compute Subsystems (CSS) for Client to provide foundational computing elements for AI smartphone and PC SoCs, and it introduced KleidiAI, a set of compute kernels for developers of AI frameworks. The Armv9-A architecture also added support for the Scalable Matrix Extension to accelerate AI workloads.

TSMC said its 2nm process is on target to begin mass production in 2025. Meanwhile, Samsung is expected to release its 1nm plan next month, targeting mass production for 2026 — a year ahead of schedule, reports Business Korea.

CHIPs for America and NATCAST released a 2024 roadmap for the U.S. National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), identifying priorities for facilities, research, workforce development, and membership.

China is investing CNY 344 billion (~$47.5 billion) into the third phase of its National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, also known as the Big Fund, to support its semiconductor sector and supply chain, according to numerous reports.

Malaysia plans to invest $5.3 billion in seed capital and support for semiconductor manufacturing in an effort to attract more than $100 billion in foreign investments, reports Reuters. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the effort to create at least 10 companies focused on IC design, advanced packaging, and equipment manufacturing.

imec demonstrated a die-to-wafer hybrid bonding flow for Cu-Cu and SiCN-SiCN at pitches down to 2µm at the IEEE’s ECTC conference. This breakthrough could enable die and wafer-level optical interconnects.

The chip industry is racing to develop glass for advanced packaging, setting the stage for one of the biggest shifts in chip materials in decades — and one that will introduce a broad new set of challenges that will take years to fully resolve.

Quick links to more news:

In-Depth
Global
Product News
Markets and Money
Security
Research and Training
Quantum
Events and Further Reading

In-Depth

Semiconductor Engineering published its Systems & Design newsletter featuring these top stories:

• RISC-V Heralds New Era Of Cooperation
• AI For Data Management
• Trouble Ahead For IC Verification

Global

STMicroelectronics is building a fully integrated SiC facility in Catania, Italy.  The high-volume 200mm facility is projected to cost over $5 billion.

Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd.(SPIL) broke ground on an RM 6 billion (~$1.3 billion) advanced packaging and testing facility in Malaysia. Also, Google will invest $2 billion in Malaysia for its first data center, and a Google Cloud hub to meet growing demand for cloud services and AI literacy programs, reports AP.

In an SEC filing, Applied Materials received additional subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DoC) Bureau of Industry and Security related to shipments of advanced semiconductor equipment to China. This comes on the heels of similar subpoenas issued last year.

A Chinese contractor working for SK hynix was arrested in South Korea and is being charged with funneling more than 3,000 copies of a paper on solving process failure issues to Huawei, reports South Korea’s Union News.

VSORA, CEA-Grenoble, and Valeo were awarded $7 million from the French government to build low-latency, low-power AI inference co-processors for autonomous driving and other applications.

In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating unexpected driving behaviors of vehicles equipped with Waymo‘s 5th Generation automated driving system (ADS), with details of nine new incidents on top of the first 22.

Product News

ASE introduced powerSIP, a power delivery platform designed to reduce signal and transmission loss while addressing current density challenges.

Infineon announced a roadmap for energy-efficient power supply units based on Si, SiC, and GaN to address the energy needs of AI data centers, featuring new 8 kW and 12 kW PSUs, in addition to the 3 kW and 3.3 kW units available today. The company also released its CoolSiC MOSFET 400 V family, specially developed for use in the AC/DC stage of AI servers, complementing the PSU roadmap.

Fig. 1: Infineon’s 8kW PSU. Source: Infineon

Infineon also introduced two new generations of high voltage (HV) and medium voltage (MV) CoolGaN TM devices, enabling customers to use GaN in voltage classes from 40 V to 700 V. The devices are built using Infineon’s 8-inch foundry processes.

Ansys launched Ansys Access on Microsoft Azure to provide pre-configured simulation products optimized for HPC on Azure infrastructure.

Foxconn Industrial Internet used Keysight Technology’s Open RAN Studio solution to certify an outdoor Open Radio Unit (O-RU).

Andes Technology announced an SoC and development board for the development and porting of large RISC-V applications.

MediaTek uncorked a pair of mobile chipsets built on a 4nm process that use an octa-core CPU consisting of 4X Arm Cortex-A78 cores operating at up to 2.5GHz paired with 4X Arm Cortex-A55 cores.

The NVIDIA H200 Blackwell platform is expected to begin shipping in Q3 of 2024 and will be available to data centers by Q4, according to TrendForce.

A room-temperature direct fusion hybrid bonding system from Be Semiconductor has shipped to the NHanced advanced packaging facility in North Carolina. The new system offers faster throughput for copper interconnects with submicron pad sizes, greater accuracy and reduced warpage.

Markets and Money

Frore Systems raised $80 million for its solid-state active cooling module, which removes heat from the top of a chip without fans. The device in systems ranging from notebooks and network edge gateways to data centers.

Axus Technology received $12.5 million in capital equity funding to make its chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) equipment for semiconductor wafer polishing, thinning, and cleaning, including of silicon carbide (SiC) wafers.

Elon Musk’s xAI announced a series B funding round of $6 billion.

Micron was ordered to pay $445 million in damages to Netlist for patent infringement of the company’s DDR4 memory module technology between 2021 and 2024.

Global revenue from AI semiconductors is predicted to total $71 billion in 2024, up 33% from 2023, according to Gartner. In 2025, it is expected to jump to $91.9 billion. The value of AI accelerators used in servers is expected to total $21 billion in 2024 and reach $33 billion by 2028.

NAND flash revenue was $14.71 billion in Q1 2024, an increase of 28.1%, according to TrendForce.

The optical transceiver market dipped from $11 billion in 2022 to $10.9 billion in 2023, but it is predicted to reach $22.4 billion by 2029, driven by AI, 800G applications, and the transition to 200G/lane ecosystem technologies, reports Yole.

Yole also found that ultra-wideband technical choices and packaging types used by NXP, Apple, and Qorvo vary considerably, ranging from 7nm to 90nm, with both CMOS and finFET transistors.

The global market share of GenAI-capable smartphones increased to 6% in Q1 2024 from 1.3% in the previous quarter, reports Counterpoint. The premium segment accounted for over 70% of sales with Samsung on top and contributing 58%. Meanwhile, global foldable smartphone shipments were up 49% YoY in Q1 2024, led by Huawei, HONOR, and Motorola.

Security

The National Science Foundation awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute researcher Shahin Tajik almost $0.6 million to develop new technologies to address hardware security vulnerabilities.

The Hyperform consortium was formed to develop European sovereignty in post-quantum cryptography, funded by the French government and EU credits. Members include IDEMIA Secure Transactions, CEA Leti, and the French cybersecurity agency (ANSSI).

In security research:

• University of California Davis and University of Arizona researchers proposed a framework leveraging generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) models to automate the obfuscation process.
• Columbia University and Intel researchers presented a secure digital low dropout regulator that integrates an attack detector and a detection-driven protection scheme to mitigate correlation power analysis.
• Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) researchers analyzed threshold switch devices and their performance in hardware security.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seeks proposals for its AI Quantified program to develop technology to help deploy generative AI safely and effectively across the Department of Defense (DoD) and society.

Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) partnered to develop dependable AI for national security applications.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a number of alerts/advisories.

Research and Training

New York continues to amp up their semiconductor offerings. NY CREATES and Raytheon unveiled a semiconductor workforce training program. And Syracuse  University is hosting a free virtual course focused on the semiconductor industry this summer.

In research news:

• A team of researchers at MIT and other universities found that extreme temperatures up to 500°C did not significantly degrade GaN materials or contacts.
• University of Cambridge researchers developed adaptive and eco-friendly sensors that can be directly and imperceptibly printed onto biological surfaces, such as a finger or flower petal.
• Researchers at Rice University and Hanyang University developed an elastic material that moves like skin and can adjust its dielectric frequency to stabilize RF communications and counter disruptive frequency shifts that interfere with electronics when a substrate is twisted or stretched, with potential for stretchable wearable electronic devices.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $36 million to three projects chosen for their potential to revolutionize computing. The University of Texas at Austin-led project aims to create a next-gen open-source intelligent and adaptive OS. The Harvard University-led project targets sustainable computing. The University of Massachusetts Amherst-led project will develop computational decarbonization.

Quantum

Singapore will invest close to S$300 million (~$222 million) into its National Quantum Strategy to support the development and deployment of quantum technologies, including an initiative to design and build a quantum processor within the country.

Several quantum partnerships were announced:

• Riverlane and Alice & Bob will integrate Riverlane’s quantum error correction stack within Alice & Bob’s larger quantum computing system based on cat qubit technology.
• New York University and the University of Copenhagen will collaborate to explore the viability of hybrid superconductor-semiconductor quantum materials for the production of quantum chips and integration with CMOS processes.
• NXP, eleQtron, and ParityQC showed off a full-stack, ion-trap based quantum computer demonstrator for Germany’s DLR Quantum Computing Initiative.
• Photonic says it demonstrated distributed entanglement between quantum modules using optically-linked silicon spin qubits with a native telecom networking interface as part of a quantum internet effort with Microsoft.
• Classiq and HPE say they developed a rapid method for solving large-scale combinatorial optimization problems by combining quantum and classical HPC approaches.

Events and Further Reading

Find upcoming chip industry events here, including:

Upcoming webinars are here, including integrated SLM analytics solution, prototyping and validation of perception sensor systems, and improving PCB designs for performance and reliability.

Semiconductor Engineering’s latest newsletters:

Automotive, Security and Pervasive Computing
Systems and Design
Low Power-High Performance
Test, Measurement and Analytics
Manufacturing, Packaging and Materials

The post Chip Industry Week In Review appeared first on Semiconductor Engineering.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is Samsung's next flip phone with a foldable screen, and it will likely be announced during the Galaxy Unpacked event on July 10, 2024. However, it appears that the phone's cameras will be dead on arrival, as rival flip phones from other brands will have higher-resolution or telephoto cameras.

One such phone is Motorola's RAZR 50 Ultra. This phone has a bigger cover screen and a dedicated high-resolution telephoto camera.

RAZR 50 Ultra has a 50MP telephoto camera, while Galaxy Z Flip 6 doesn't

According to leaked images (via @evleaks) and specifications of the Motorola RAZR 50 Ultra, the phone has a 50MP primary camera with OIS and a 50MP telephoto camera with OIS and 2x optical zoom. Its selfie camera uses a 32MP sensor. All these cameras can record up to 4K 60fps videos.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 will reportedly have a 50MP primary camera with OIS, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 10MP selfie camera. All its cameras can also record up to 4K 60fps videos.

While Samsung may offer an in-sensor crop for optical quality 2x zoom in the Galaxy Z Flip 6, the RAZR 50 Ultra will likely offer up to 5x optical quality zoom using the same method as Samsung's.

The other specifications of the RAZR 50 Ultra include a 6.9-inch 165Hz pOLED screen with Full HD+ resolution, a 4-inch cover screen, a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, 12GB RAM, and 256GB/512GB storage. It is reportedly powered by a 4,000mAh battery that supports 45W fast charging and wireless charging.

It will reportedly cost $999 in the US and €1,200 in Europe.

Watch our review of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in the video below. The article continues after the video.

The RAZR 50 Ultra is expected to go official soon and become available globally in June, a month earlier than the Galaxy Z Flip 6. If these reports are accurate, the RAZR 50 Ultra looks better specced than the Galaxy Z Flip 6.

Samsung's upcoming phone will have a more powerful chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and much better software support (likely 7 major Android OS updates). However, its screen, cameras, and charging are not as good as Motorola's.

Which will you choose? Galaxy Z Flip 6 or RAZR 50 Ultra?

It remains to be seen if people prefer the Galaxy Z Flip 6 or the RAZR 50 Ultra. Even Xiaomi is expected to launch its first flip phone, which will reportedly feature three cameras: a primary wide-angle, an ultrawide, and a telephoto.

The post Galaxy Z Flip 6 competitor leaks with a 50MP zoom camera appeared first on SamMobile.

A fair amount of details have already come out about Motorola’s upcoming 2024 clamshell Android foldables. However, a new leak may have spilled the beans on the colors and may have revealed an interesting improvement to the cheaper Razr.

In coordination with leaker Sudhanshu Ambhore, 91mobiles shared a handful of new renders for the Motorola Razr and Razr Plus (known as the Razr 50 and Razr 50 Ultra outside the US). Based on the images, it seems we can expect the Razr to come in grey and khaki, while the Razr Plus has peach, green, and blue color options.

A German district court has ordered a sweeping sales ban on Lenovo and Motorola devices in the country. Motorola, a subsidiary of Chinese tech giant Lenovo, is now prohibited from selling all of its phones that have a WWAN or Wireless Wide Area Network module that powers mobile internet access via cellular networks. That means all Moto phones, including the latest Edge 50 lineup, will not be available to purchase in Germany.

Most people don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on an Android flagship, as their needs and usage patterns often don’t justify dropping that much money. A lot of us can get by just fine with a budget Android device instead, which would serve our needs quite modestly. However, if you want a new smartphone with a stylus, you unfortunately do not have a lot of options. You can either drop a lot of money on a Galaxy S24 Ultra, or you can opt for the budget Moto G Stylus 5G. Motorola has just updated its budget stylus phone with a new design and wireless charging, giving it a better chance at taking on the year ahead.

Motorola continues to call its phones without numeral prefixes, so the new Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) succeeds the old Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Thankfully, there is a new countered design here, so you can tell the two phones apart with just a look. The highlight upgrade this year is the addition of wireless charging, which many users would appreciate, especially in the budget range.

Motorola’s next foldable phone — the Razr Plus (2024), also expected to be called the Razr 50 Ultra in some markets — might come in at the same price as last year. A new leak with screenshots of the phone’s price from a European retailer shows that it could cost €1,200 (~$1,289) in the region. That’s the same price as the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, aka the Razr Plus (2023).

Most people don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on an Android flagship, as their needs and usage patterns often don’t justify dropping that much money. A lot of us can get by just fine with a budget Android device instead, which would serve our needs quite modestly. However, if you want a new smartphone with a stylus, you unfortunately do not have a lot of options. You can either drop a lot of money on a Galaxy S24 Ultra, or you can opt for the budget Moto G Stylus 5G. Motorola has just updated its budget stylus phone with a new design and wireless charging, giving it a better chance at taking on the year ahead.

Motorola continues to call its phones without numeral prefixes, so the new Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) succeeds the old Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Thankfully, there is a new countered design here, so you can tell the two phones apart with just a look. The highlight upgrade this year is the addition of wireless charging, which many users would appreciate, especially in the budget range.

Motorola’s next foldable phone — the Razr Plus (2024), also expected to be called the Razr 50 Ultra in some markets — might come in at the same price as last year. A new leak with screenshots of the phone’s price from a European retailer shows that it could cost €1,200 (~$1,289) in the region. That’s the same price as the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, aka the Razr Plus (2023).

On May 11, 2024, a new development in the ongoing patent dispute between Lenovo, Motorola, and InterDigital hit the public. According to the court ruling, ...

The post Lenovo and Motorola phones, tablets and other devices banned in Germany appeared first on Gizchina.com.

Most people don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on an Android flagship, as their needs and usage patterns often don’t justify dropping that much money. A lot of us can get by just fine with a budget Android device instead, which would serve our needs quite modestly. However, if you want a new smartphone with a stylus, you unfortunately do not have a lot of options. You can either drop a lot of money on a Galaxy S24 Ultra, or you can opt for the budget Moto G Stylus 5G. Motorola has just updated its budget stylus phone with a new design and wireless charging, giving it a better chance at taking on the year ahead.

Motorola continues to call its phones without numeral prefixes, so the new Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) succeeds the old Moto G Stylus 5G (2023). Thankfully, there is a new countered design here, so you can tell the two phones apart with just a look. The highlight upgrade this year is the addition of wireless charging, which many users would appreciate, especially in the budget range.

Motorola’s next foldable phone — the Razr Plus (2024), also expected to be called the Razr 50 Ultra in some markets — might come in at the same price as last year. A new leak with screenshots of the phone’s price from a European retailer shows that it could cost €1,200 (~$1,289) in the region. That’s the same price as the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, aka the Razr Plus (2023).

The Moto G Stylus 5G is a mid-range smartphone with stylus support that costs a lot less than some other stylus-enabled phones. And this year’s model brings a few key upgrades over the 2023 version. Motorola says the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) features an updated stylus experience with “reduced latency for a smoother experience, simplified […]

The post Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) brings a better stylus, more RAM and wireless charging appeared first on Liliputing.

Motorola has been making cell phones since they were big bulky affairs that needed to be installed in cars or briefcases. So naturally, it was also one of the first companies to eagerly embrace the new era of mainstream smartphones in the late 2000s. Motorola's 2009 release of the Droid was instrumental in turning Android into the dominant force it is today, and that's grown into a wide range of devices covering every conceivable price range and need.

Aftermarket tinkering on Android phones isn't as prominent as it once used to be. That's not to say you can't root your Android phone or install a custom ROM like LineageOS on it. You can still tinker and customize your phone to a large extent as long as you have the interest and the technical know-how. Most — if not all — aftermarket tinkering requires you to connect your Android smartphone to a computer using a USB cable, so you can use tools like the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to interact with the device.

Motorola has officially announced that the Moto X50 Ultra is coming to China. This will be the latest smartphone from the manufacturer and will be ...

The post Moto X50 Ultra Will Focus On AI Features, Launching Next Month in China appeared first on Gizchina.com.

The first major wearable built around AI hit the streets last week… and the Humane AI Pin was widely panned by reviewers as a buggy, overpriced mess that fails miserably to deliver on its promise. But a startup called Limitless is hoping to do better… by doing less. The upcoming Limitless Pendant is a $99 […]

The post Lilbits: Limitless AI Pendant, Pixel Buds pro 2 leaked, and Motorola’s Edge 50 smartphone series launches (in Europe and Latin America) appeared first on Liliputing.

When Motorola launched its Edge+ flagship phone in 2023, it was looking to carve out a bigger spot for itself in a crowded market. While many people were already satisfied with their Samsung or Apple devices, others were on the hunt for something new — especially those who had previously used a phone from LG, which left the sector. In the end, the Edge+ (2023) surpassed expectations with ample battery life, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, and 512GB of onboard storage. As anticipation for the Edge+ 2024 continues to grow, new leaks suggest that the device could differentiate itself in aesthetic ways this time around.

Motorola’s flagship phones have seen significant improvements over the last couple of generations. In fact, we called the Motorola Edge Plus 2023 the company’s best flagship in years. It looks like the brand has another high-end phone up its sleeve, though.