Score a foldable for just $500 this Black Friday thanks to this Moto Razr 2023 deal

It’s safe to say that 2023 was the year that foldable phones finally hit the big time. Thanks to more phones hitting the market to challenge the might of Samsung, arguably the most important folding smartphone of 2023 was the Razr 2023 from Motorola. It was the first time a manufacturer had launched what could be considered an ‘affordable’ foldable phone, and – despite still being very new – the Razr 2023 is even cheaper still in the Black Friday sales.

It’s technically not quite Black Friday yet – but at both Best Buy and Amazon – you can grab the entry-level foldable smartphone from Motorola for just shy of $500. Or – if you want its more premium big-screened sibling – the Razr+ is available for $700.

Why should you buy the Motorola Razr 2023?

It’s safe to say – since foldable smartphones became a thing – Samsung has been the darling of the emerging sector of the smartphone market. Its big marketing campaigns around the Z Flip family of phones have pushed the bending Galaxy models to the forefront of our collective consciousness.

But with the Razr 2023, Motorola did something significant. Where Samsung’s foldable phones were flagship devices with flagship prices, the Razr 2023 was launched as the first in – hopefully – a new wave of mid-range, accessibly-priced phones. Even before Black Friday, then, it was a phone that was worth buying if you wanted a taste of the foldable phone life, but without the price tag usually associated with it.

Its full retail price of $700 is considerably cheaper than its flagship competitors’ $900+ price tags. But, for Black Friday, you can pick up the entry-level Razr for just $500, which is – quite frankly – incredible for a folding smartphone.

The price isn’t all it’s got going for it, just in case you think it’s all about the money. The phone has a cute design and is available in a few different attractive colours, and all of them are finished in a vegan leather texture, making them a pleasure to hold.

Its zero-gap hinge design means you can shut the phone and not have to worry about there being an obvious gap for dust and fluff to get in, while the rounded, soft-anodised aluminium frame makes it comfortable to grip and sturdy.

It’s got a great, big screen on the inside with fast refresh rates – up to 144Hz for gaming – with 1400 nits peak brightness and the ability to display up to 1 billion colours, AND it’s running a very clean, light, bloat-free version of Android. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset means it can run pretty much anything smoothly and efficiently too. There are very few compromises.

All you miss out on – realistically – is flagship-level cameras and the bigger cover screen on the outside of the phone. Motorola saved on some build costs by putting a small, ticker-like display on the cover rather than a display that takes up all the space. Still, I loved using the phone, thanks to its design, display, performance and software, and for $500, it’s a no-brainer.

What about the Razr+ 2023?

It’s safe to say it was the more expensive Razr+ 2023 that got the most hype when these two phones were launched earlier in the year and for good reason. Motorola was the first company to put a huge, usable cover screen on the outside of a clamshell smartphone, getting there before Samsung did with the Z Flip 5.

Motorola/ Pocket-lint

Motorola Razr+

$700 $1000 Save $300

The flagship sibling to the Razr 2023 has a better camera system and more powerful internals than its more affordable family member; plus, it has that huge cover screen on the outside that changes the experience entirely (for the better).

The good news here is that the ‘Plus’ variant of the Razr 2023 is also discounted for Black Friday, bringing the price down from near-enough $1000 to just $700.