Motorola Launches Razr+ at $1,099 With 17-Hour Battery, Keeping 2024 Chip

Q: Can a superior battery make up for a three-year-old processor in a flagship phone?

No. In a flagship phone, superior battery life helps a lot, but it does not offset an aging processor, especially at a premium price. The 2026 Motorola Razr+ shows why. Its battery life jumped to 17 hours and 4 minutes in PCMag’s test, a major improvement over the prior model, and the return of an ultrawide camera adds flexibility. Those are meaningful gains for everyday use. For many buyers, all-day endurance is one of the most valuable features in a phone. But a flagship is judged on more than endurance. The Razr+ keeps the same Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 used in its 2024 and 2025 versions, producing only minimal performance gains and leaving it behind the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 in benchmarks. Reviewers also reported buggy software, including a non-working Moto AI app. A bigger battery cannot fix slower app performance, weaker gaming results, lag under heavier workloads, or software instability. The trade-off also looks worse because the price rose to $1,099. At that level, buyers expect current silicon, stronger long-term support, and polished software. Motorola offers three years of OS upgrades and five years of security updates, while key rivals now promise longer support. A great battery can make an older chip easier to live with if the phone is cheaper or aimed at mainstream users. In a flagship, though, it is not enough on its own. It improves convenience, not competitiveness.

3 articles · Updated · PCMag UK · Jun 29

Motorola’s 2026 Razr+ arrives at $1,099—$100 above last year’s model—while retaining the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 used since 2024 and largely reusing the same design and displays.
A larger 4,500mAh battery is the main upgrade, lifting tested endurance to 17 hours 4 minutes from 12 hours 57 minutes on the 2025 Razr+ and bringing the phone closer to foldable rivals.
Performance gains were minimal: Geekbench 6 scores of 1,899 single-core and 4,801 multi-core barely improved year over year and trailed Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 7, which posted 2,267 and 7,594.
Motorola restored a 50MP ultrawide camera by dropping the telephoto lens, but software issues clouded the launch after Moto AI failed to run on the review unit despite a factory reset.
The combination of a higher price, middling performance and shorter support than Samsung’s seven-year commitment leaves the Razr+ hard to recommend despite its battery catch-up.