Do not buy the Motorola Razr 5G if you want regular software updates

Motorola has been criticised for its lacklustre software support before, with the company initially promising only one major software update for the likes of the Edge+. Motorola swiftly changed tack and offered two major OS updates for its devices, but our software experience with another popular Motorola smartphone has been woeful so far.

We are talking about the Razr 5G, currently Motorola's most-expensive smartphone. As the screenshot below shows, our device remains stranded on the August 2020 security patch, along with Android 10. Motorola has promised to deliver Android 11 to the Razr 5G within the next few months, in fairness, but it also claims that it issues security patches every two months.

According to a post on the XDA Developers Forums, our device is not the only one stuck with a six-month-old security patch. Some people have advised using the RSD Lite tool for flashing a newer build, but that assumes someone is comfortable with navigating fastboot and installing the correct drivers. The volume of threads about RSD Lite not detecting a smartphone even with the correct drivers installed underlines that this is not necessarily a simple procedure.

For the record, we found what appeared to be a newer build than the one our Razr 5G had installed. However, RSD Lite would not recognise the device, even though Device Manager and Minimal ADB and Fastboot did.

In short, the Motorola Razr 5G is a US$1,200 smartphone stuck on six-month-old security patches in most cases. Some devices appear to have received newer security patches, but the current situation falls far short of Motorola delivering bi-monthly security patches universally for the Razr 5G.   

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