In this episode of Photo Shoot|out, Tom's Guide's John Velasco compares 200 photos taken on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Motorola Razr Plus 2024 to see which is the better flip-style phone for photography. While one has a telephoto camera and the other has an ultrawide, we look at how they compare in the same settings with their cameras. Only one phone can come out on top.
This is Photo Shoot|out!
This is Photo Shoot|out!
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TechTranscript
00:00It's foldable season, and I've got the two latest flip style phones to check out.
00:05Samsung's looking to redeem itself after last year, but Motorola's not going down that easy.
00:09This is the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Razer Plus 2024 Photo Shootout.
00:14Just like my other videos, I've captured over 200 photos between them to see how they compare
00:20in different scenarios, to see which is the best phone for photography.
00:25However, there's a huge difference between them because the Razer Plus
00:29drops its ultrawide camera entirely, replaced by a dual camera setup that now consists of a
00:3550MP main camera and a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom.
00:40Meanwhile, the Z Flip 6 gets its own upgrade too,
00:44a new 50MP main camera paired with a 12MP ultrawide.
00:48I know which setup I prefer, but let me know which one you'd choose.
00:52A telephoto camera or an ultrawide?
00:54Of course, I've previewed all the photos on my computer, so that way,
00:58I can better pixel-p each one of them for a fair comparison.
01:01And with that, let's begin.
01:03On bright sunny days, these two couldn't be any similar because they take
01:07excellent photos with their main cameras.
01:09Frankly, it gets away either way, but in these shots,
01:12I see the slightly better results with the Razer Plus.
01:15The picture is a smidge brighter, but it also pulls in sharper details.
01:19Only by a little bit though.
01:20I can see it in the license plate from the car on the left side,
01:23as well as the sign across the building in the background.
01:26The sunset in the far background is exposed evenly by the two,
01:29so much so that the reds, greens, and blues in the surrounding sky are nicely represented.
01:35In the foreground, however, I like that the Razer Plus does a little bit better job
01:39at boosting the shadowed areas in and around the rocks,
01:42and for that reason, I'm giving it to the Motorola.
01:45For their selfie cameras, you have a 10MP front-facing one in the Z Flip 6
01:50and an even larger 32MP one in the Razer Plus.
01:53This is a perfect example of how more megapixels doesn't always translate to better results
01:58because these selfies I shot of myself have better qualities with the Samsung.
02:02Not only does it have better dynamic range, but there's more definition in my face and shirt.
02:07The Razer Plus fails in the highlights with the building in the background
02:10and the sky being overblown.
02:13Moving on to portrait mode, both flip phones manage to isolate the focus on me,
02:17and I'm impressed they don't mess up around my sunglasses either, which tends to be a challenge.
02:22Samsung's a little too aggressive with saturation for my liking,
02:25which gives me an extra deep tan.
02:27Luckily, the Razer Plus does a better job and realistically gets my skin tone just right,
02:32but I also like how it applies more sharpness to better define some of my facial features.
02:37Colors can go either way depending on your preference.
02:40I can see extra saturation applied to the pinks and reds with the Razer Plus,
02:45which isn't bad in my opinion because it makes the colors pop more,
02:48but I do know it's not as true to life as what the Galaxy Z Flip 6 produces.
02:53I also prefer how it casts a stronger high-contrast look.
02:56Oddly enough, neither phone has a dedicated macro mode,
03:00and that's despite the Flip 6 having an ultra-wide camera,
03:03which is what's normally used for them.
03:05Instead, I shot these close-ups of this flower in the garden,
03:08and let me tell you, they look stunning.
03:10I made sure to place the focus and exposure on the center of the flower,
03:14but the Z Flip 6 gets my attention for the amount of detail it pulls in.
03:18The Motorola is still pretty good at this too,
03:20but it doesn't get quite the same sharpness as the Samsung.
03:24Now, this is where things get interesting because the Razer Plus inherently has advantage
03:29because it has a dedicated 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom.
03:35The Flip 6 doesn't have one, so it relies on the main camera for all the zooming.
03:40I will admit though, the pixel binning technique it's doing
03:42delivers reasonable optical-like quality.
03:45Now, it's hard to see which has the advantage in these 2x zoom photos of this front door,
03:50but when I zoom into the photos, I can better make out the scratches around the white door
03:54and the smaller details in the bricks with the Razer Plus.
03:59I do want to point out here that the details of the welcome wreath with the Flip 6 has better sharpness.
04:04At 4x zoom, these differences become more apparent
04:08as more of the texture in the bricks are more visible with the Razer's 2x optical zoom camera.
04:13But I wouldn't say it's a tremendous difference.
04:15Even though the Razer outright wins here,
04:17I have to applaud Samsung for coming close despite not having a dedicated zoom camera.
04:23Even without nitpicking the fine details,
04:25I can tell that the Flip 6 is more suitable at capturing panoramas.
04:29You can actually use either the main and ultra-wide cameras for capturing them
04:33while you're just isolated to the Razer Plus's main one.
04:36The Razer Plus suffers from the softer details with the rocks on the jetty
04:40along with how it can't properly expose the setting sun in the sky.
04:44The Galaxy Z Flip 6 does a much better job overall
04:48and perfectly captures all the colors of the sunset with ease.
04:51For low light, I was in my backyard for these photos,
04:54and I'm not surprised by the results because
04:56Samsung has historically been better at this than Motorola.
05:00Aside from my neighbor's floodlight in his backyard in the far background,
05:04the immediate area in front of me doesn't have any ambient light.
05:08While the Razer does okay at brightening the area,
05:10it's nowhere close to the magic that the Samsung casts with the Flip 6.
05:15Really, it's a night and day difference between them,
05:18which shows off the low light superiority of Samsung.
05:22Everything's brighter, including the grass in front of me and all the leaves in the branches.
05:26After tallying in the results,
05:27the Galaxy Z Flip 6 comes out on top by a narrow margin.
05:32I really didn't expect the Razer Plus to perform as good as it did,
05:35but it goes to show that Motorola's closing the gap,
05:38and it's a much more satisfying upgrade.
05:40I was surprised by how well its main camera performed
05:42because I honestly thought the Flip 6 would incrementally be better.
05:46But while the Razer has a dedicated optical zoom lens,
05:50I have to give credit to the Flip 6 getting excellent results with its zooming abilities.
05:55Additionally, the other reason why I think the Flip 6 is better
05:58because its ultra-wide camera lets me take better group photos and vlogs,
06:03especially paired with its flex window display.
06:05I also like how it offers full manual controls with video,
06:09which the Razer Plus can't do.
06:11So what do you guys think?
06:12Let me know in the comments below.
06:13Don't forget to watch all our videos, our unboxings, reviews,
06:17and our photo shootouts in our channel.
06:20Follow us on social at Tom's Guide.
06:22I'm John Fee, and I'll see you in my next video.