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Moto vs. Samsung: The flip phone arena in 2022
The Motorola Razr 2022 smartphone (L) and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 smartphone. /CGTN

The Motorola Razr 2022 smartphone (L) and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 smartphone. /CGTN

Motorola and Samsung went head-to-head on flip phones by releasing their products almost at the same moment. The Motorola Razr 2022, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, bring more heat to foldable screen handheld devices.

Moto is still teasing potential buyers with its nostalgic Razr brand – a thin phone series that dates back almost two decades.

Though Moto claimed they have "reinvented" the flip phone, they kept the thin form factor which would definitely remind previous Razr users of their old phones.

As an upgrade to the Razr 5G, the 2022 model is strong in its heart. Moto managed to fill the clamshell with top-of-the-line hardware comparable to most of the flagship devices from other brands: The latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, global 5G bands, a screen with 144 Hertz refresh rate and Dolby Atoms-enabled dual speakers.

The clamshell itself also got the ability to remain half-open if you want to join a video conference without holding the phone.

More importantly, Lenovo, the owner of the Motorola brand, has finally customized their smartphone software to satisfy the need of Chinese users.

The customization, dubbed "MyUI 4.0" by Moto, added easy to use widgets to the home screen and provided a PC-like desktop when connected to an external screen. You can even use the phone as a floating mouse, which seems much easier to use than an on-screen touchpad.

When closed, the phone's secondary screen can also display full sized apps. Reviewers have discovered that you can even play large video games on it, if you can live with the smaller screen size.

On the Samsung side, the upgrade seems more incremental. The phone also has the same Snapdragon processor and a foldable screen that refreshes at 120 Hertz.

However, compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 3, not many upgrades can be felt. According to initial reviews on Chinese social media, Samsung didn't do much to reduce the crease on its foldable screen, which seems to be more visually significant than on its Moto competitor.

Samsung priced its Galaxy Z Flip 4 at $999.99, which the same as last year's product. The Moto Razr 2022 is about 10 percent cheaper if you are buying it in China.

By the way, the Moto phone comes with a charger.

Samsung held a 62 percent market share in foldable smartphones in the first half of 2022, followed by Huawei at 16 percent and Oppo at 3 percent. Research firm Counterpoint forecast Samsung's share in the second half to go up to around 80% after the new releases.

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