Motorola raised the Razr Plus price and reused its chip for a third year

Motorola has found a novel way to make a fast phone feel old. The Razr Plus 2026 costs $1,099 in the US, $100 more than its predecessor, and carries the same Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 used in the 2024 and 2025 Razr Plus. This is not a case of a manufacturer retaining last year's processor. It has sold three generations of the same premium flip phone around one 2024 chip.

The awkward part is that the phone is not slow. Month-long testing, lab benchmarks and comparisons across the Razr family all point to a machine that remains pleasant for ordinary work. Motorola's mistake is therefore more precise than simply fitting a weak processor: it is charging a new flagship price for performance existing owners already possess.

PhoneArena recorded 1,919 in Geekbench 6 single-core and 4,555 in multi-core. Its 2025 Razr Plus scored 1,896 and 4,814 respectively. The tiny single-core movement and lower multi-core result are ordinary run-to-run variation, not a generational advance. Both phones use 12GB of RAM, although the US 2026 model keeps storage at 256GB.

TechRadar's separate review returned 1,835 single-core and 4,476 multi-core, plus a 3DMark Wild Life Extreme best score of 2,202. Reviewer Jason Cipriani found no glaring performance problems after more than a month. Picture-in-picture video, email, messaging, web browsing and a few laps of Asphalt: Legends all ran without drama. Android Authority reached a similar practical conclusion after swapping a two-year-old Razr Plus 2024 for the new phone: the small hardware changes pleased a committed flip-phone user, even though the dimensions, weight and processor were familiar.

That agreement matters. A 2024 flagship-adjacent chip does not turn into porridge when the calendar changes. Buyers who mostly use the cover screen, social apps, maps and cameras are unlikely to catch it gasping. The chip becomes a problem when the price implies something better.

Tom's Guide tested all three 2026 Razrs together. The Plus reached 1,925 single-core, 4,884 multi-core and 73.08 frames per second in 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited. The $1,499 Razr Ultra, powered by Snapdragon 8 Elite, produced 2,886, 8,982 and 146.33fps. That is nearly twice the graphics rate, and the difference became visible in heavier games including Diablo Immortal.

The $799 base Razr landed at 1,122, 3,382 and 23.43fps. This leaves the Plus doing its intended job: it is substantially faster than the entry model without demanding Ultra money. Yet the middle position is manufactured by a $300 step below and a $400 step above. It does not explain why the middle phone itself became dearer without gaining new silicon.

Motorola's product page calls the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 “Supercharged performance” and promotes quicker app loads and on-device AI. The description is defensible in isolation. It is less persuasive beside phones using newer processors, and beside Motorola's own 2024 model making essentially the same promise.

The 2026 phone is not a photocopy. Its battery grows to 4,500mAh, wired charging rises to 45W, the hinge is titanium-reinforced and protection improves to IP48. The 4-inch cover display remains one of the Razr's best reasons to exist, while the inner 6.9-inch OLED and outer panel both run at up to 165Hz. Motorola also traded the previous 2x telephoto for a 50-megapixel ultrawide.

Cipriani routinely finished a day with power to spare and sometimes woke with 20 to 30 percent after forgetting to charge. He measured a full wired charge at about one hour 35 minutes. Android Central highlighted another real benefit: 45W charging is nearly double the Galaxy Z Flip 7's rate. None of those improvements requires a faster processor, and each can matter more than Geekbench during a commute.

The longer-term arithmetic is worse. Motorola promises three major Android upgrades and five years of security patches. A processor beginning its third product cycle is paired with a support window shorter than the seven-year commitments attached to Samsung and Google foldables. TechRadar found it fast today but questioned how comfortably the ageing platform will follow Hello UI and increasingly demanding local AI features.

For someone arriving from a cheap slab phone, the Plus can still be a delightful object: compact when closed, quick in normal use and genuinely useful without unfolding. Carrier discounts may also make the $1,099 list price academic. Judge the deal in front of you, not merely the launch sticker.

At full price, the purchasing line is clean. Owners of the 2024 or 2025 Razr Plus should keep their phone unless the larger battery, ultrawide camera or tougher hinge solves a specific irritation. Gamers should either step up to the Ultra or compare a conventional flagship that has more room to cool its chip. Everyone else should look for the previous generation on sale.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has aged better than Motorola's pricing decision. It remains fast enough to recommend in a discounted phone. Repackaging it for a third year, raising the price and shortening the value horizon turns “fast enough” from a compliment into the ceiling.