Motorola is bringing some of its flagship smartphones to the US, and they might be welcome upgrades if you’ve been disappointed by previous models. To start, the 2023 Moto Edge+ is a significant upgrade that addresses some of last year’s shortcomings. The new phone has a smoother 6.7-inch 165Hz OLED display, a faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and a larger 5,100mAh battery. And gone is the 2MP depth sensor — instead, you get an already useful 12MP 2X telephoto camera to go along with the standard 50MP and ultra-wide cameras. The 60MP front sensor promises highly detailed selfies.
The 8GB of RAM is unmatched, but you get 256GB of 512GB storage (not expandable) plus 68W fast wired charging, 15W wireless charging, and 5W wireless power sharing. More importantly, Motorola promises better update support than in the past — you’ll get three years of OS upgrades and four years of bi-monthly security fixes. That’s not quite up to Samsung’s standard (four years for both), but it might last the working life of your device.
Price is also a major selling point. Where the 2022 Edge+ was priced like the $1,000 flagship, the 2023 version will be available for $800 when the unlocked version arrives May 25 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola. This makes it a relative bargain if you are looking for a large screen phone with modern specs.
Motorola
There are more affordable phones coming too. The 2023 versions of the Moto G 5G (pictured) and Moto G Stylus are more compelling if cost matters more than raw power. Both have 6.5-inch 720p screens, and you’ll have to go with the Helio G85 (on the G Stylus) or Snapdragon 480+ (on the G 5G) with 4GB of RAM. You’ll get up to 128GB of expandable storage, a 50MP (G Stylus) or 48MP (G 5G) main camera, a 2MP macro sensor and an 8MP front camera. As you would expect in this chapter, you will have to charge with a cable.
The Moto G Stylus arrives first, shipping May 5th for $200. And it’s coming to prepaid carriers like Cricket and Straight Talk in the coming months. The Moto G 5G debuts May 25th for $250, and will be coming to AT&T, Google Fi, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and more. There is no mention of a lengthy OS update policy, so you may not want to expect the longevity of the Edge model’s software.