A little while ago, I got a firsthand look at the latest in home robotics at IFA 2026. There’s a lot of really cool stuff happening, and some of the tech Ecovacs showed caught my eye.
It was tough not to spend all day patting the LilMilo robot dog, which is a cute companion for people who may not have the capacity for people to care for a real pooch. Once I finally dragged myself away, some of the other tech really impressed me.
One of the most eye-catching demos showed the Deebot X12S Omnicyclone sucking up a 25kg metal ball. It showed just how powerful the suction on robot vacuums has become in a relatively short space of time. Obviously, none of us needs to vacuum 25kg of debris, but you see something like that and immediately think the fibres trapped in your carpets stand no chance.
Apple has unveiled its new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, bringing a tandem OLED screen, touch and the Dynamic Island to the Mac for the first time.
Available in 14-inch and 16-inch models with Apple’s M5 Pro or M5 Max chips, the new MacBook Pro is also thinner and lighter than before, and Apple claims up to 24 hours of battery life. Pre-orders are open now, with the new models arriving from Friday 6 November, priced from A$4,599.
It sits at the very top of Apple’s laptop range, above the existing MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display, which stays on sale. I haven’t had hands-on time with it yet, but based on what Apple has announced, here’s what we love, what we’re mixed on and what we don’t love.
1. Love: the PROLED XDR tandem OLED display
Love, love, love. Short answer, this will be the best-looking screen any MacBook Pro has ever had, and OLED is a great tech for a laptop thanks to incredible contrast, ultra-quick pixel response times and wide viewing angles.
Tandem OLED is a fantastic technology that gives you the best of OLED while keeping it bright using a tandem panel. For tasks like colour grading, which I do a lot on my MacBook Pro, the colour calibration out of the box sounds fantastic too, and it looks like there’s lots of tech to ensure that your OLED display resists burn-in and stays healthy.
Apple quotes up to 2000 nits peak brightness for both HDR and SDR content, a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 10 to 120Hz ProMotion, and coverage of both P3 and Adobe RGB colour, with more than 80% of Rec. 2020.
I also love the maximum brightness of 2000 nits, which is fantastic for outdoor use. Interestingly, Apple’s sustained full-screen brightness figure of 1000 nits only applies in temperatures below 25°C, which kind of makes sense.
Through what Apple calls Colour Matching Function 2026, the PROLED XDR display also delivers a seamless visual experience when paired with iPhone 18 Pro or Studio Display XDR, which is great for keeping things consistent.
PROLED XDR covers both the P3 and Adobe RGB colour spaces. Image: Apple
2. Love: nano-texture etched into the glass
Having a matte-like surface will certainly appeal to some, while others will prefer a glossy screen. Etching it into the surface of the display will help with clarity and reduce colour casting.
Nano-texture glass is an option on every model and adds A$225 to the price. All models also get a new antireflective coating.
A new antireflective coating, plus optional nano-texture glass, is designed to keep the screen readable in bright light. Image: Apple
3. Love: more screen in the same footprint
Thanks to their slimmer bezels, both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro fit more screen into a similar size, so the actual measurements are now 14.2 and 16.3 inches.
Slimmer borders stretch the screens to 14.2 and 16.3 inches. Image: Apple
4. Love: thinner and lighter
The current MacBook Pro is hefty and can weigh on you after a while, especially the 16-inch model. It’s fantastic to see that the new MacBook Pro gets lighter, meaning it’s more comfortable to tote around.
Apple says the 14-inch model is half a pound (about 0.23kg) lighter than before and the 16-inch model 0.7 pounds (about 0.32kg) lighter. The 16-inch is also nearly a millimetre thinner, and the 14-inch half a millimetre thinner.
Model
M5 Pro
M5 Max
14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR
1.38kg
1.40kg
16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR
1.82kg
1.84kg
Weight varies by configuration, according to Apple.
Both models are thinner and lighter than before. Image: Apple
5. Love: M5 Pro and M5 Max performance
The M5 Pro and M5 Max are both very powerful. The Max is an absolute beast and there’s probably nothing on the market that’s faster. The M5 Pro is the go-to for most people, while the M5 Max specs are no joke when combined with up to 128GB of unified memory and a massive 16TB SSD. Just don’t look at the price tag.
The M5 Pro tops out at an 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 64GB of memory and 4TB of storage. The M5 Max goes up to an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU, and is the only way to get 128GB of memory or 8TB and 16TB SSDs. Both chips have a Neural Accelerator in each GPU core and a third-generation ray-tracing engine.
Apple says M5 Max can run large language models with hundreds of billions of parameters on device. Image: Apple
6. Love: up to 24 hours of battery life
Of course, your battery life will vary based on what you’re doing, but the M5 silicon is incredibly efficient while maintaining high performance, and there’s nothing wrong with topping up the battery to 50% in half an hour.
The 24-hour figure applies to the 16-inch M5 Pro model. Here’s how Apple’s battery claims and in-box chargers break down across the range.
Model
Video streaming
Wireless web
Power adapter in the box
14-inch M5 Pro (15-core CPU)
Up to 22 hours
Up to 14 hours
70W
14-inch M5 Pro (18-core CPU)
Up to 22 hours
Up to 14 hours
96W
14-inch M5 Max
Up to 20 hours
Up to 13 hours
96W
16-inch M5 Pro
Up to 24 hours
Up to 17 hours
140W
16-inch M5 Max
Up to 22 hours
Up to 16 hours
140W
Apple’s 50% in 30 minutes fast-charge figure was tested with the 96W adapter on the 14-inch and the 140W adapter on the 16-inch, so the entry 14-inch model with its 70W adapter may take longer.
Apple claims up to 24 hours of video streaming from the 16-inch M5 Pro model. Image: Apple
7. Love: six-speaker audio
The MacBook Pro’s speakers are already quite good, and while I haven’t heard them yet, extra bass will be a very welcome addition. Apple claims 50% deeper bass from new woofers, with new tweeters for clarity. I also absolutely love that the speakers are now tuned for use with the lid closed, which is a common configuration for me when connected to a monitor.
The six-speaker system gets new woofers and tweeters. Image: Apple
8. Love: ports and connectivity
Pretty much everything I’d want is here: three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 and a headphone jack, plus Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. These are all the latest specifications, so you’re not left wanting when it comes to wireless and wired ways of connecting your MacBook Pro.
The M5 Pro models support up to three external displays, and the M5 Max models up to four.
Three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 and a headphone jack. Image: Apple
9. Mixed: the Dynamic Island moves to the Mac
Great that the Dynamic Island shrinks in size and loses the notch look. I like that Siri and other quick bites of information are all centralised here, but I don’t tend to use Siri on my MacBook much, so it might not add a lot of functionality other than looking better visually.
The Dynamic Island becomes the home for Spotlight, Live Activities and Siri AI, though Spotlight only moves there if Siri AI is available and switched on.
The Dynamic Island on the Mac shows Live Activities such as music playback. Image: Apple
10. Don’t love: touch on the Mac
I don’t see the point of this one really. It’s one of those things that I don’t think will bring much extra benefit to most people who use a MacBook Pro. With the touchscreen laptops I have used, I generally forget the feature is there unless you can fold it backwards into a tablet.
It’s good that there are software enhancements to make it easier to use with your fingers and that it supports multi-touch, but apps will need to follow suit and it will probably only directly improve a small handful of uses. I can’t see myself scrubbing a timeline in DaVinci Resolve with my finger, what’s the point, I can just use the touchpad. Apple has built the touch sensor into the display panel and redesigned the hinge for more stability when you tap the screen.
Touch arrives on the Mac for the first time, with the touch sensor built into the display. Image: Apple
11. Don’t love: third-party touch apps aren’t ready at launch
Nothing worse than waiting for the touchscreen to become useful, especially with your new toy!
Apple’s own apps are optimised for touch, and macOS translates touches into clicks in existing apps. But Apple says third-party apps including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Adobe Lightroom, DaVinci Resolve and Blender will add touch support later this year.
Third-party apps such as Microsoft Office, Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve add touch support later this year. Image: Apple
12. Don’t love: Siri AI is still in beta
Siri AI still needs some work, and it would be great for this to be ready now. I’m also not sold on the integration into macOS, so it would be good to see some genuinely useful ways of using it.
Siri AI arrives in beta with macOS 27.2. Apple also says some server-side Apple Intelligence features, including Siri AI, are subject to daily usage limits, with expanded access to be offered for a fee in future.
Siri AI lives in the Dynamic Island on the Mac, but launches in beta. Image: Apple
13. Don’t love: the familiar design
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the look of the new MacBook Pro, but I don’t know, maybe something a little different might be nice here? New colours, etc? Yes, the Mac logo lights up, which is a throwback to older MacBook Pros, so that’s cool, I was just hoping to see revolution instead of evolution.
From the outside, the new MacBook Pro looks much like the model before it. Image: Apple
14. Don’t love: the price
The new MacBook Pro costs A$600 more than the existing 14-inch MacBook Pro with the same M5 Pro chip, memory and storage, and A$700 more at the 16-inch entry point, so we’re all taking a major hit thanks to the memory and chip shortage. A fully specced MacBook Pro is incredibly expensive, and of course not necessary for just about everyone except for the most specialised uses, but these devices are getting expensive!
MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Australian pricing
Model
Starting configuration
RRP
Education
14-inch M5 Pro
15-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 24GB memory, 1TB SSD
A$4,599
A$4,359
16-inch M5 Pro
18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 24GB memory, 1TB SSD
A$5,499
A$5,179
14-inch M5 Max
18-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 36GB memory, 2TB SSD
A$6,999
A$6,529
16-inch M5 Max
18-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 36GB memory, 2TB SSD
A$7,699
A$7,219
What the top configuration costs
Max out every hardware option on Apple’s Australian online store and the 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR comes to A$22,424.
M5 Max with 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU (requires 48GB memory)
+A$1,000
Memory
128GB unified memory (from 48GB)
+A$3,000
Storage
16TB SSD (from 2TB)
+A$10,500
Display
Nano-texture glass
+A$225
Power adapter
140W USB-C Power Adapter
Included
Total
A$22,424
That’s before adding optional preinstalled Final Cut Pro (A$499.99) or Logic Pro (A$299.99), or AppleCare.
If you don’t need the new screen, Apple continues to sell the MacBook Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display, including a new 14-inch model with the M6 chip from A$3,199.
The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is available to pre-order now from apple.com/au and the Apple Store app, with availability from Friday 6 November.
Transparent tech is back, baby. More tech brands are revisiting the fun 2000s era of translucent plastic, giving a glimpse into the hardware underneath. PlayStation is the latest proponent of the retro-themed trend, announcing the eye-catching Prism Collection.
Consisting of three new DualSense controller designs and matching console covers, the collection adds a bit of transparent flair to the PlayStation 5 ecosystem. Combining two of my favourite things — bright colours and see-through technology — I feel like PlayStation made the Prism Collection to appeal specifically to me.
Available in Flare Orange, Emerald Green, and Graphite Gray, the controllers cost $134.95 a pop, while the accompanying console covers cost $119.95. They won’t arrive for a while, though. Pre-orders open on 10 November, ahead of the collection’s 4 February launch. Until then, we have some very pretty pictures to look at. I call dibs on the Flare Orange controller.
HongQi is not a name many Australians know yet, but in China it carries real weight. The brand has been building cars since 1958 and is best known at home for the stately limousines used on official state occasions.
Now it is coming here, sold under the shortened name HQ. The first model to wear the badge locally is the HongQi E-HS9, a large three-row electric SUV which HQ will officially launch at its own event on 11 November 2026, with customer deliveries planned from 18 January 2027.
What “leading the way in smart luxury” means
HQ’s tagline here is “Leading the way in Smart & Luxury”, and the company is fairly specific about what each half means.
Smart is about convenience. Rather than piling on features for the sake of a spec sheet, the idea is a car that makes everyday driving easier, such as a voice assistant that can tell different people in the cabin apart and respond to whoever is actually speaking.
Luxury is about the experience that technology makes possible: a quiet, comfortable cabin, big screens, serious audio and driver assistance that takes the edge off long trips. HQ openly positions itself against the more rigid approach of century-old Western luxury brands, putting the user first rather than tradition.
To back that up, it is leaning on three areas of technology: battery, cockpit and driving assistance. More on each below.
Who is bringing HQ to Australia
HQ is being imported and distributed by Greentech Smart EV, an Australian company set up in 2023. It is led by managing director and CEO Jim (Baojun) Wu, who has more than 20 years in the car industry, including roles with joint ventures involving PSA, Honda, Toyota and GAC. Wu also co-founded EV maker Leapmotor, served as its president and CEO, and took it to a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Wu sees being a newcomer as an advantage. Without decades of legacy models to protect, HQ can put its latest battery, cabin and driving technology into every car from day one.
The HongQi E-HS9 is HQ’s first model for Australia. Image: HongQi
Meet the HQ E-HS9
The E-HS9 is HQ’s flagship SUV, and it is a big one. At 5.2 metres long and just over two metres wide, it is a genuine three-row family hauler in the same size bracket as the largest four-wheel drives on Aussie roads.
HQ quotes a 120 kWh battery, 492 hp (roughly 367 kW) and 606 Nm of torque, with a claimed range of 515 km on the WLTP scale.
Styling-wise, there is a signature light strip across the nose, matrix LED headlights and a neat touch on the C-pillar: a display that shows the battery level from outside the car. Inside, you get a panoramic intelligent display, ventilated massage seats, a panoramic sunroof and air suspension. It also has Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X hardware, which allows the car to talk to other vehicles and roadside infrastructure, where networks support it. In Australia, that support is still a work in progress.
Second-row comfort in the E-HS9. Image: HongQi
HQ has families clearly in mind. The buyer it is picturing has kids aged roughly six to 16, which makes sense for a car with this much space and screen time on offer.
On pricing, Wu says the HongQi E-HS9 will sit around the $160,000 mark, below its German luxury rivals.
HongQi E-HS9 specifications and price
Body type
Large three-row electric SUV
Battery
120 kWh
Maximum power
492 hp (approx. 367 kW)
Peak torque
606 Nm
Claimed range
570 km (CLTC) / 515 km (WLTP)
Dimensions (L x W x H)
5209 x 2010 x 1731 mm
Driver assistance
L2+ ADAS
Connectivity
Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X
Comfort highlights
Air suspension, panoramic sunroof, ventilated massage seats, panoramic intelligent display
Australian launch
11 November 2026, HQ launch event
First deliveries
From 18 January 2027
Price
$160,000 approx
Final Australian-specification details are still to be confirmed.
The HongQi technology coming to Australia
Beyond the E-HS9 itself, HQ is keen to talk up the technology HongQi has developed across its wider range. Not all of it will be in the first cars to arrive here, but it gives a good sense of what will filter into HQ models in Australia over time. It falls into three areas.
Battery and charging: HongQi’s Tiangong electric platform underpins its newer EVs, and the headline numbers look like this:
Up to 850 km of range on the CLTC cycle from its longest-range model, with battery capacities up to 111 kWh
10 to 80 per cent fast charging in 20 to 30 minutes on 800V models, with five minutes to 80 per cent the stated goal for the future
93 per cent of battery capacity retained at minus 10°C, handy on a winter trip to the snow
Packs tested for piercing, crushing and burning without fire or explosion, sealed against water and dust, and calibrated for Australia’s heat
Smart cockpit: HongQi’s Lingxi cockpit runs on its own 5nm Hongqi No.1 chip and FAW-OS operating system, with over-the-air updates. The AI voice assistant draws on large language models including Alibaba’s Qianwen and DeepSeek, handles natural back-and-forth conversation and can recognise different voices, so it knows whether the driver or a passenger is asking. HQ says every model sold here is localised for Australian language and usage. On the luxury side, highlights across the range include a 36-channel Dynaudio sound system, an augmented reality head-up display with an image equivalent to a 65-inch screen, a 15.6-inch 2.5K floating touchscreen and zero-gravity seats with heating, ventilation and massage.
The right-hand-drive E-HS9 cockpit, with its panoramic display spanning the dashboard. Image: HongQi
Driver assistance: HongQi’s Sinan system does not rely on high-definition maps, instead combining a three-camera vision system with inertial navigation. That matters in Australia, where detailed HD mapping outside the big cities is patchy. HongQi claims it can detect objects up to 300 metres ahead and needs fewer than 0.25 driver takeovers per 100 km, with sixfold redundancy across sensing, positioning, power, communication, steering and braking. Core safety functions include autonomous emergency braking that works at up to 130 km/h, lane keeping assist and smart cruise control, and HQ says the system has been adapted to Australian road rules. It comes in tiers, from highway assist and memory parking up to a top version HongQi describes as ready for Level 3 autonomy.
As always, these systems assist the driver rather than replace them, and HQ is yet to confirm exactly which of these features each Australian model will get. The E-HS9 is currently listed with Level 2+ driver assistance.
The HQ road map for Australia
HQ is rolling out in stages:
11 November 2026: E-HS9 launch event hosted by HQ
18 January 2027: first customer deliveries
The compact E-HS4 SUV is also on its way, with timing to be confirmed. Beyond that, a mid-size E-HS5 SUV has been reported for around April 2027, and a sedan is expected to follow the SUVs. Greentech also plans to open a dealer in each capital city.
For a brand most Australians are only just hearing about, HQ is arriving with plenty of technology on the spec sheet. Final Australian specifications will tell us how well it stacks up, and we will bring you more once we have had time behind the wheel.
Glancing away from the road to press on-screen inputs can be more dangerous than driving over the limit, with two-thirds of Australians demanding the return of physical buttons in cars, according to the latest research.
A two-second glance away from the road can be more dangerous than a 0.08 blood alcohol level, in scenarios such as driving on rural roads, according to research by global insurance giant Allianz.
With poorly designed menus requiring up to 11 taps to access features, Australian drivers are demanding the return of physical buttons to cars, which can be accessed by feel while still watching the road.
The latest stats on driver distractions
Almost one in three Australian drivers report a “critical moment” behind the wheel while distracted by touchscreen features that force them to take their eyes off the road.
Driver distraction is underreported in official statistics, with two-thirds of Australians identifying distraction as a factor in a collision, according to Allianz, which analysed 34,000 crashes and surveyed drivers from around the world.
As new cars become more reliant on touchscreens, 75 per cent of Australian drivers believe in-car distraction has increased in recent years. In response, 67 per cent would prefer that key features were operated by physical controls rather than on-screen buttons.
“Distraction appears far more often in the crash record than official statistics suggest,” said Allianz’s Dr Klaus-Peter Röhler. “The same everyday task is markedly more dangerous in one car than in another… Manufacturers should make safety-critical functions operable for drivers without taking their eyes off the road.”
“A glance of only a couple of seconds can, at the wrong moment, be as dangerous as driving over the drink-drive limit.”
At 50 kilometres an hour, a two-second glance at a touchscreen means more than 28 metres travelled without watching the road. This extends to 56 metres when travelling at 100 kilometres an hour.
The new research comes amid a growing international backlash against car manufacturers moving physical controls and readouts to touchscreens, such as the Tesla Model Y and Model 3, which lack physical buttons on the dash as well as an instrument cluster behind the wheel.
This leaves Tesla drivers completely reliant on the 15-inch in-dash touchscreen for even the most basic of tasks like checking their current speed. Some models also ditch the physical indicator stalk in favour of buttons on the steering wheel, while relegating gear shifter controls to the touchscreen.
Local regulators call for the return of physical buttons
New 2026 Australian safety standards mark down the safety rating on new cars that rely heavily on complex touchscreen controls rather than buttons and stalks, according to the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), Australia’s peak safety body for new cars.
Key functions such as operating headlights, windscreen wipers, demisters, side mirrors and hazard lights rely too heavily on touchscreen interaction rather than readily accessible physical controls, says ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg.
“Our 2026 safety rating requirements are comprehensive and ambitious, encouraging manufacturers to deliver a broader range of safety features and higher levels of protection,” Hoorweg said.
“We want to see carmakers bring back buttons for the functions drivers use every day. Adjusting your windscreen wipers, switching on your headlights or clearing a fogged-up windscreen should be simple, intuitive and achievable without taking your attention off the road.”
Global push to reduce reliance on in-car touchscreens
Europe’s car safety organisation, Euro NCAP, is also encouraging manufacturers to use separate, physical controls for basic functions to limit the time drivers spend looking away from the road.
Under the new European rating scheme, which came into force in January, manufacturers cannot achieve the highest safety ratings if they don’t provide physical switches for certain functions.
Meanwhile, China will require physical buttons for critical controls in new cars sold in the country from mid-2027. While the ruling doesn’t apply to the export market, it is expected to shape vehicle design out of China, which produces around a third of all cars globally.
Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Hyundai/Kia, Subaru and Audi are among major carmakers that have committed to reintroducing physical buttons. Electric carmakers like Tesla are yet to follow suit, although the EV giant bowed to public pressure and reintroduced indicator and gear shift stalks in 2025 models.
Apple’s M6 chip is making its way to the MacBook Pro, joining the new iMac desktop and the company’s recently announced OLED iPad Mini.
At this stage, the M6 chip is only available in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and it’s not the rumoured touchscreen model. Tomorrow’s “Pro and Tell” event is the expected stage for Apple’s first touch-enabled laptop.
Compared to the M5-equipped MacBook Pro, the new model’s gains are fairly incremental. Apple claims that the 12-core GPU improves graphics performance by up to 30 per cent, and AI performance by up to 25 per cent, while the dual 16-core Neural Engine is up to 90 per cent faster.
Image: Apple.
But who upgrades a laptop every year? For those looking to upgrade from an M1 MacBook, Apple claims up to 11 times faster graphics and up to 13 times faster AI performance. Apple positions its latest laptop as being powerful enough to run complex large language models (LLMs) locally, including the company’s new suite of Siri AI features.
From a design perspective, the M6 MacBook Pro doesn’t change much. Aesthetically, it looks identical to the previous model, reserving the biggest changes for the internals. Both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 are supported, along with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full HDMI port, an SDXC slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Where does a flip phone fit in the 2026 phone landscape? Once considered the potential future of phones, the foldable flip form factor (say that five times fast) has gone under the radar lately. Larger foldables are in vogue, especially the passport-shaped style adopted by Samsung and Apple in recent months. Even so, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra is one of the better flip phones on the market. It’s just a bit overshadowed by other current trends.
Look at the foldable phone section of prominent tech retailers: the pendulum has clearly swung away from flip phones towards book-like foldables. When Samsung announced its annual folding phone refresh earlier in the year, it gave very little attention to the Galaxy Z Flip 8, as if it were the middle child sandwiched between the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra.
So too has Motorola embraced the larger foldable trend. It recently debuted one of the stronger first entries in the form of the $2,799 Razr Fold. As it stands, the $1,999 Motorola Razr 70 Ultra is a slick and stylish handset, but is it enough in a world awash with alternatives?
Motorola Razr 70 Ultra specifications and price
Displays
6.9-inch 1224 x 2992 Extreme AMOLED 165Hz main display 5,000 nits peak brightness 4.0-inch 1272 x 1080 Extreme AMOLED 165Hz external display
Dimensions
88.12 x 73.99 x 15.69mm (closed) 171.48 x 73.99 x 7.19mm (open) 199 grams
Processor
Snapdragon 8 Elite
Storage and memory
256GB storage 12GB memory
Cameras
50MP rear wide camera: f/1.8 50MP rear ultra-wide camera: f/2.0, 122-degree field of view 50MP selfie camera: f/2.0
Battery
5,000mAh silicon-carbon
Connectivity
USB-C 2.0 Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 5.4 eSIM and physical SIM NFC
Network bands
2G, 3G, 4G, 5G (sub-6)
Software
Android 16 Three years of OS updates Four years of security updates
Motorola loaned me the ‘Pantone Orient Blue’ variant of its flip phone, which was quite the dazzler. Halfway between navy and purple, it’s bright enough to catch the eye, yet subtle enough not to dominate its surroundings.
Along the right side are the usual volume and power buttons. They’re well-positioned, making it easy to unlock the phone via the power button’s integrated fingerprint sensor. On the left side, Motorola’s AI key makes an appearance. I barely touched it; as I’ve said before, the fact that you can’t reprogram it to any shortcut you like hampers its utility.
Image: Chris Button.
I also wasn’t sold on the fabric-like material used on the rear cover. Aesthetically, it looks nice and adds a bit of extra grip. From a practical perspective, though, I could hear my mum’s words ringing in my ears about how difficult it would be to keep clean.
Just after a couple of weeks, the soft surface caught a lot of lint and other miscellaneous particles that were tricky to remove. Once you add sweat and grime to the equation, I fear to think how it would look in a year’s time.
Image: Chris Button.
Obviously, I spent far more time looking at the Razr 70 Ultra’s sleek screens than anything else. Both the 4.0-inch outer display and 6.9-inch main screen looked a treat, sporting 165Hz AMOLED technology.
Motorola’s outer screen is fully functional, letting you access standard apps without opening the phone. It’s handy for sending a quick message on a condensed keyboard, but I generally preferred flipping open to the tall inner display.
Image: Chris Button.
There wasn’t much of a crease to speak of, either. I could feel it by running my thumb along the screen, but it wasn’t visually obvious. Like any phone with foldable technology, you can see the crease when viewing the screen at an angle. Last I checked, though, everyone I know looks at their phone dead-on straight, so it’s a non-issue.
Performance
With the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and 12GB of memory in tow, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra is one of the most powerful flip phones around. Swapping between apps is quick and responsive, keeping up with my whims. Once you start looking at phones in this price bracket, it’s tough to visibly discern everyday performance differences. No news is good news, as far as I’m concerned.
This is where benchmarking software helps sort things out. As expected, the Razr 70 Ultra blazes past last year’s Razr 60 (non-Ultra) model. Raw performance-wise, it’s roughly on par with the Razr Fold and last year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, according to Geekbench 6 testing.
For reference, Geekbench 7 is fairly new, so we’re still building a library of benchmarks for comparison. Here, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra returned scores of 1,257 (single-core CPU), 6,743 (multi-core CPU), and 11,505 (OpenCL GPU).
On gaming-specific benchmarks, which test a phone’s graphical limits, Motorola’s latest flip performed reasonably well. On 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme 4K test, the Razr 70 Ultra scored 5,676, sitting on the higher end of the scale.
If mobile gaming is your thing, this is a phone capable of running more resource-intensive software. For how long, though, is another question.
The phone couldn’t complete a 20-minute stress test version of Wild Life Extreme, interrupting the test with an overheating warning. Subsequent attempts saw the same outcome. I reverted to the 1440p Wild Life (sans ‘Extreme’) 20-minute benchmark, which fared better.
During this latter test, the Razr 70 Ultra maintained solid performance throughout the entire 20 minutes. Afterwards, the device was hot to touch, and the battery dropped by 13%.
It’s good to see a 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery make its way into a flip phone. I easily got through an entire day without recharging, although I don’t spend as many hours on my phone as some do. If you’re gaming, though, the battery saps much quicker, as is the case with most phones.
It’s also worth noting that Motorola is only supporting the Razr 70 Ultra with three years of operating system updates, plus four years of security patches. It’s a strange decision when the $1,499 Motorola Signature gets seven years of both. The more you think about it, the more confusing it gets; the Razr isn’t lacking in power, so why not commit to more updates, like foldables from competing brands?
Dude, where’s my optical zoom?
Motorola phones have been on a hot streak when it comes to cameras. Its top-end handsets, like the Signature and Razr Fold, take fantastic pictures, and the brand’s mid-range devices aren’t slouches by any stretch.
The Razr 70 Ultra doesn’t reach the same lofty standards set by those phones, but it’s a capable shooter all the same. A combination of hardware choices and baked-in software processing means it’s not as versatile as some of Motorola’s other models.
I still think fondly about the Razr 50 Ultra’s 2x optical zoom, something the Razr 70 Ultra omits in favour of an ultrawide lens. Motorola isn’t the only culprit preferring ultrawide; Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip never went down the path of a telephoto lens, and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 doesn’t have one either.
Image: Chris Button.
Based on conversations I’ve had with executives over the years, if a phone can only fit two rear cameras, the default setup is a main wide lens, supported by an ultrawide snapper. Which, if you spend any time scrolling Instagram and TikTok, you’ll get an idea why. Shooting in ‘0.5 mode’ is trendy, particularly in comedy skits, where the ultrawide camera amusingly distorts people’s faces into odd shapes.
Still, I yearn for a good optical zoom, and I’m always sad when an upmarket phone doesn’t have one.
Camera quality
What you get with the Razr 70 Ultra is a reasonably good set of cameras that produce beautifully vibrant colours during the day. Its main camera in particular takes photos with crisp blue skies at the beach, while highlighting the pristine green turf of Adelaide Oval.
Main camera (left), ultrawide camera (right). Images: Chris Button.
I did notice, however, some colour difference between the Razr 70 Ultra’s main camera and its ultrawide lens. Swapping to the ultrawide camera introduces a slight green tint to the colour temperature. It’s easily corrected in any decent editing software, but you’ll notice a difference straight out of the camera.
Main camera (left), ultrawide camera (right). Images: Chris Button.Images: Chris Button.
At night, Motorola’s flip phone works overtime to compensate for the lack of available light. While walking along Melbourne’s Docklands on a recent trip, I tried taking a photo of the cityscape, including Marvel Stadium. Compared to what I could see with the naked eye, the photo overexposed the night sky, making it look brighter than it was. I manually dialled down the exposure, which resulted in an image closer to real life, but the bright ‘Marvel Stadium’ signage remained overexposed.
Images: Chris Button.
One of the best things about flip phones (aside from how easily they fit in pockets) is how good they are at taking selfies. Using the generously sized outer screen to frame a shot using the main cameras should mean you get a better result than when using a standard phone’s lower-quality selfie lens.
As I found when snapping a family photo after a footy final, Motorola’s image processing system is overzealous. Rather than exposing for the people occupying most of the frame, it tried to evenly expose the entire photo, including the bright stadium lights in the background.
Image: Chris Button.
You can clearly see how the photo combines multiple exposures into one. There’s a ghost-like effect that makes it look like we were superimposed into the image after the event. This is not an issue exclusive to Motorola — nearly all modern phones try to average multiple exposures into one flat image — but it’s one of the more egregious examples I’ve seen.
So, for the best-looking photos, stick to evenly lit environments when you can.
Who is the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra for?
As far as flip phones go, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra is a good showcase for the form factor. It’s slim, stylish, and fun to use. Once you add in the smooth everyday performance and sharp AMOLED screens, there’s not much else that could genuinely improve the core of this phone.
But at $1,999, it becomes a tough sell. Spend a few hundred dollars less, and you can get even more from a conventionally designed phone, like a telephoto camera with optical zoom. Alternatively, you could spend a few hundred dollars more and jump on the larger foldable phone bandwagon.
If a flip is your must-have form factor, keep an eye out for the inevitable discounts.
Motorola Razr 70 Ultra
Slightly overshadowed by the bigger foldable trend, the Motorola Razr 70 Ultra is a fine flip phone with a high asking price.
Features
7.5
Value for money
6
Performance
8.5
Ease of use
8.5
Design
8
Positives
Stylish and useful design
Performance is on par with other foldable phones
Fantastic-looking screens
One of the biggest batteries in a flip phone
Negatives
Overzealous camera processing
Not enough years of software support for the price
