Motorola just fixed my biggest foldable problem — and S…

The Razr Fold finally fixes what Samsung broke

Ben Khalesi writes about where artificial intelligence, consumer tech, and everyday technology intersect for Android Police. With a background in AI and Data Science, he’s great at turning geek speak into plain English. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bouldering. I jumped on the foldable hype early and still remember the first time I held the original Samsung Galaxy Fold in 2019. The screen was fragile, the hinge creaked ominously, and the gap when shut could fit a credit card and all the dust that came with it.

Yet none of that mattered. Even with all its rough edges, the idea of a phablet had me convinced, and I wanted one. Over time, the foldable lineup improved, but the part I loved most — the stylus — always came with its compromises. Now it feels like the industry leaders have given up entirely. In their push to make foldables thinner and lighter for regular users, Samsung and Google ended up removing the feature that I felt was indispensable from the category.

And just in time, Motorola is here to pick up where others dropped the ball and save the day. Try editing a spreadsheet, marking up a PDF, adjusting a video timeline, doing precision edits in Photoshop, or sketching with your thumbs. It’s nearly impossible to do these tasks accurately with your fingertips. A human fingertip completely covers the exact button or element you’re trying to tap. These devices were supposed to serve as both a phone and a tablet, but you can’t pull that off without a precision tool.

I don’t get Samsung’s current strategy. It was the champions of the stylus, and the Galaxy Note series defined what a phablet could be. Admittedly, Samsung’s earlier foldable S Pens weren’t perfect. The tips had to be soft and retractable to avoid scratching the plastic screen, and only worked on the inner screen. And yet, instead of fixing the problem, why did Samsung discontinue it? Why did Samsung remove S Pen support entirely from the Galaxy Z Fold 7?

Samsung admits it cut the digitizer layer while chasing a thinner design. But this came at the cost of abandoning a core foldable fanbase. The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold is great for taking photos, watching movies, and letting Google’s Gemini AI handle the heavy lifting of keeping your life organized. But I think Google is missing a huge opportunity. It is leaving the workstation segment of the foldables market.

It’s a strange choice, especially considering how much Google has invested in the stylus support on the Pixel Tablet. Plus, it already has a Workspace suite including Slides, Docs, and Sheets. Just when everyone seemed to forget the stylus, Motorola built the Razr Fold for the productivity-focused user. At Mobile World Congress 2026, the Razr Fold was revealed with an 8.1-inch internal LTPO pOLED display and a 6.6-inch external screen.

The Moto Pen Ultra that comes with it has pressure sensitivity and tilt detection, and there’s even a palm rejection algorithm. Both displays have active digitizers, so the stylus works on both the inner and cover screen. And through it all, the software makes the experience click. Motorola seems to have cracked the code, and I wouldn’t be surprised if all serious foldable users end up in their ecosystem soon.

Right now, the Western market is sticking to slow and incremental upgrades, while the exciting stuff seems to be happening in China. Companies like Oppo, Xiaomi, and Honor are building foldables that are incredibly thin, pack massive batteries, and come with full stylus support. If you live in North America or most of Europe, those phones might as well not exist due to carrier restrictions, warranty problems, and the headaches of importing them.

That’s exactly why the Razr Fold matters. Motorola is a Western-facing brand. It is currently the only one bringing the cutting-edge hardware usually seen in China (silicon-carbon batteries, ultra-thin hinges, 6,000+ nit screens) together with the software stability and local support Western consumers expect. Over the last few years, Samsung and Google have rested on their past successes. Motorola is here to shake things up.

Samsung and Google had better step up soon if they want to stay competitive in the premium foldable market. We want the S Pen, a Pixel stylus, and larger silicon-carbon batteries. Until then, the Motorola Razr Fold is the only book-style foldable I’d recommend for anyone who actually needs to get work done.

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