The new Razr Ultra is still the best-looking phone out there

Look, you’re not going to find much new on the 2026 version of the Motorola Razr Ultra. There’s a new main camera sensor, a slightly bigger battery, and a higher price: $1,499, up from $1,299. But one thing hasn’t changed: this is a darn good looking phone.

The wood-finish back panel returns, and is joined by a new suede-like Alcantara option in orient blue. To everyone who has complained to me over the past year that “phones are boring now,” which is many-a Verge reader, please look at these phones. They are definitely not boring. They feel nice, they look nice, and they are eminently photographable.

That’s the good news. The bad news is, well, 2026. $1,499 gets you the same 512GB and 16GB RAM storage configuration that was $200 cheaper last year. It comes with the same Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset as last year, too. There’s a 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery compared to last year’s 4,700mAh, and a larger 50-megapixel main camera sensor compared to the one on the 2025 Ultra. The updated camera also claims better high dynamic range performance thanks to a new sensor technology called LOFIC. These are nice upgrades, but the price increase probably has more to do with the memory shortage.

There are some minor updates, too. The inner screen is capable of up to 5,000 nits of brightness compared to 4,500 on last year’s model. The outer screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, which claims better drop performance than the previous version.

Along with the other two Razr devices, the Ultra offers a couple of new camera tricks. When shooting video in camcorder configuration with the device bent 90 degrees, you can tilt the whole device left and right to zoom in and out. You don’t see this movement in the final clip, since the device uses its gyro sensor and image stabilization mechanisms to correct it in post-processing and keep the horizon steady.

There’s also a mode called Frame Match that’s designed for the moments when you need to hand your phone to someone else. You take a reference photo with the framing you want and then step in front of the camera — whoever you’re handing your phone to will see it overlaid so they can match the composition. The idea is to prevent someone from inadvertently leaving out the part of the background you wanted to capture. Personally, I’m too anxious to try and explain this concept to a stranger taking my family’s photo, but it seemed to work well enough when I played with it.

Like the rest of the 2026 Razr series, the Ultra will be available for preorder on May 14th and arrives on May 21st.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge