While Motorola focused mainly on the budget end of the smartphone market for much of the 2010s, the company has since widened its focus to include capable flagships and impressive foldable tech.
That’s a great move for the company, but it also means it’s now much harder to decide on a Motorola phone than it was a few years ago.
That’s where we at Trusted Reviews come in; our team of mobile experts have reviewed practically every Motorola phone on the market, from budget-focused options like the Moto G13 to the top-end foldable Razr 40 Ultra, giving us a unique perspective on Motorola’s current smartphone offering.
With that said, this list is the culmination of days, if not weeks, of testing, ranging from synthetic benchmark tests to extensive real-world use, covering not just chipset performance but elements like camera prowess, fast charging capabilities and software, all to help you decide which is best for your needs.
If you’ve decided you want to cast your net wider than Motorola’s smartphone collection, we’ve also got the best Samsung phone roundup, and for a better understanding of the smartphone market at large, we’ve got the best smartphone, best mid-range smartphone and best cheap phone charts too.
Best Motorola phone
How we test
All the phones included in our list have been thoroughly tested and used by one of our product experts. We never review a phone based purely on specs and benchmark scores. We use them as our everyday device for the review period, which is usually at least five days but often a lot more.
Whenever you read a phone review published on Trusted Reviews, you should be confident that the reviewer has put their personal SIM card into the phone, synced across their most-used apps and logged into all their typical accounts. We do this so you’ll feel confident in our review and trust our verdict.
Motorola Edge 40 Pro
Best flagship phone
Pros
- Super-fast charging
- Powerful processor
- Respectable bright screen
Cons
- Camera image processing a grade below the best
- Lower battery capacity than many Motorolas
- Finicky fingerprint scanner
The top-end Motorola Edge 40 Pro may not excel in any one particular area, but it provides a good balance of power, camera ability and charging tech that makes it a tempting choice at the premium end of the smartphone market.
That means the Edge 40 Pro ticks all the boxes for what a flagship smartphone in 2023 should offer, including IP68 dust and water resistance, a combination of glass and aluminium that looks high-end, if not a little minimalistic, stereo speaker support and a suitably capable display.
More specifically, the Edge 40 Pro sports a flagship-grade 6.7-inch pOLED display with a subtle curvature. The 165Hz refresh rate is among the fastest on the market and one of few non-gaming phones to offer the tech, delivering a buttery-smooth scrolling experience while being able to display plenty of frames in high-performance games, too.
Speaking of, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 within proves a capable flagship chipset, with the Edge 40 Pro able to take on much of the 2023 flagship competition in benchmark tests. In everyday use, it’s rapid and responsive with no signs of stutter or lag, as you’d expect from a phone at this price point.
Throw in a near-stock version of Android with only genuinely helpful additions from Motorola, a triple camera setup comprised of a 50MP primary, 50MP ultrawide and 12MP 2x telephoto, rapid 120W charging that delivers a full charge in 20 minutes, and you’ve got a solid all-rounder.
Reviewer: Andrew Williams
Review: Motorola Edge 40 Pro review
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
Best foldable phone
Pros
- Premium clamshell foldable design
- Genuinely useful 3.6-inch exterior display
- Great camera performance from main 12MP sensor
- Top-end 6.9-inch pOLED foldable display
Cons
- Battery could only last about a day
- Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is a year old
As well as the standard candybar-esque smartphones we all know and love, Motorola has dabbled in foldable tech over the past few years. The culmination of that work is the Razr 40 Ultra, the company’s top-end clamshell foldable that’s both sleek and surprisingly capable.
The Razr 40 Ultra set itself apart from the competition at launch with its sizeable 3.6-inch cover display. Samsung followed suit not long after with the Flip 5’s 3.4-inch cover display, but Motorola’s remains the more useful with the ability to run any app you’d like on the cover display, negating the need to unfold the phone for specific tasks.
Unfold the phone and you’ll be greeted by a gorgeous 6.9-inch pOLED display with no crease visible in daily use. The 165Hz refresh rate is the fastest on a foldable in 2023, and while it is large, it folds down to something extremely pocketable when not in use.
The cameras, twin 12MP primary and ultrawide lenses, offer a solid shooting experience even if it isn’t quite up to the standards of similarly priced regular flagships, and while the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 isn’t the best on the market, it still provides snappy everyday performance regardless of what you’re up to.
If you want something a little different from your next smartphone, the Razr 40 Ultra is a strong option.
Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Review: Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
Motorola Edge 40 Neo
Best value phone
Pros
- Thin, lightweight design
- All-day battery life
- Premium hardware despite the price
Cons
- Mushy, inaccurate vibration motor
- Some pre-installed bloatware
If you’re looking for exceptional value for money, look no further than the £299 Motorola Edge 40 Neo. In simple terms, it doesn’t look, feel or perform like you’d expect from a sub-£300 smartphone.
For one, it’s incredibly stylish with a vegan leather finish and a range of Pantone-certified colours including Soothing Sea and Caneel Bay. Throw in a curved 6.5-inch 144Hz pOLED screen, an IP68-protected lightweight design that measures in at just 7.8mm thick and 172g, and you’ve got something that clearly stands out from the crowd.
It’s not just a looker either; the aforementioned display provides a solid experience, whether gaming or scrolling endlessly through TikTok, with vibrant colours and inky blacks that OLED tech is known for.
The performance from the Dimensity 7030 won’t be able to compete with flagships, but it outpaces the similarly priced competition and, importantly, still delivers smooth everyday performance with no notable slowdown. It also has ample 256GB of storage as standard, plenty of room for apps, photos and videos.
Couple that with a capable camera offering comprised of a 50MP main with OIS and a 13MP ultrawide, all-day battery life and 68W charging with a 68W charger in the box, and you’ve got one of the best value smartphones around, Motorola-branded or not.
Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Review: Motorola Edge 40 Neo review
Motorola Edge 40
Best for photography
Pros
- Svelte, lightweight design
- Vibrant, fast 144Hz pOLED display
- Versatile main camera performance
- Fast 68W TurboPower charging
Cons
- Can overheat when playing games
- A few bugs within the OS
- Refresh rate has to be fixed at 144Hz if used
The Motorola Edge 40 is Motorola’s latest mid-ranger, offering a great blend of specs and a lightweight design akin to that of the Edge 40 Neo, measuring in at 7.6mm and 172g, which helps it stand out in a crowded market.
But as with the Neo, the Edge 40 isn’t just a looker. For one, there’s a curved 6.55-inch 144Hz pOLED display that’s great for gaming and binging TikToks, and the Dimensity 8020 delivers a snappy and responsive experience regardless of what you’re up to. There’s also rapid 68W charging, and you’ll get the charger in the box too.
However, the main reason to opt for the Motorola Edge 40 is its camera setup. That may sound weird considering the Edge 40 Pro has more lenses, but the regular Edge 40’s primary lens, in particular, stands out from the crowd.
It’s a 50MP sensor with an impressive f/1.4 aperture that’s the widest of any smartphone on the market right now. It lends itself well not only to capturing fast-moving subjects but also to impressive low-light photography – especially combined with OIS. The aperture is also ideal for portrait photography, delivering a natural, soft bokeh to shots.
So, if you’re looking for a phone with a capable camera without splashing out on a flagship, the Motorola Edge 40 is a great choice.
Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Review: Motorola Edge 40 review
Motorola Moto G84 5G
Best cheap phone
Pros
- Fresh vegan leather design
- Two day battery life
- Decent main camera
Cons
- Middling performance
- Only one Android update
- Motorola Edge 40 Neo only £50 more
Motorola is famous for its wide array of cheap smartphones, which can make it hard to decide which is best for your needs. For most people, the £249 Moto G84 5G is the perfect option, blending its budget focus with more premium tech than you might expect.
The phone is undoubtedly striking, with vibrant Pantone-certified colours including Viva Magenta, the 2023 colour of the year, that help it stand out from a packed budget market, with its vegan leather rear providing a nice grippiness while also feeling more premium than the plastic alternative.
The 6.5-inch FHD+ pOLED display is another outlier for the price, with a 120Hz refresh rate and a solid maximum brightness of 1300nits that shines brighter than the budget competition. It can be a little too vibrant in its default setting, but the Natural colour mode was much more appealing.
The G84 5G has a surprisingly capable 50MP 1/1.5” primary sensor with OIS found in more premium options from Motorola like the Moto Razr 2022 and Edge 30 Fusion. That’ll deliver surprisingly great shots that, while won’t compete with flagship alternatives, are more than enough for sharing on social media.
There are weaknesses here that hint at the phone’s price point – it only gets one OS upgrade, and there’s middling performance from the Snapdragon 695 chipset – and make the Edge 40 Neo seem a more tempting option at just £50 more, but if your budget simply can’t reach that far, the Moto G84 5G remains a good budget choice.
Reviewer: Jon Mundy
Review: Motorola Moto G84 5G review
We also considered…
FAQs
While some manufacturers forego the charging brick in recent smartphone releases, Motorola isn’t one of them. In fact, if there’s fast charging, you’ll likely get a compatible fast charger in the box.
Yes, every phone in our list supports 5G connectivity.
Yes, there’s the regular Razr 40, but it didn’t achieve the minimum rating of 4 stars to be included in our list.
Trusted Reviews test data
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
Max brightness
1 hour video playback (Netflix, HDR)
30 minute gaming (light)
Time from 0-100% charge
Time from 0-50% charge
30-min recharge (included charger)
15-min recharge (included charger)
15-min recharge (no charger included)
3D Mark – Wild Life
3D Mark – Wild Life Stress Test
GFXBench – Aztec Ruins
GFXBench – Car Chase
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