Motorola has long been known for making a well-rounded, competent smartphone lineup that, with few exceptions, has often been regarded as somewhat bland. However, this all changed in 2023 when the company upped its game with a pair of fun and flashy foldables and a refreshing new flagship, the Motorola Edge+ (2023).
That premium model was followed up by its more affordable counterpart, the Motorola Edge (2023), which cut a few corners to drop $200 off the nominal price tag. Both phones still sit in a very competitive price range with plenty of options to choose from. But if you’re interested in what Motorola has to offer, it’s worth considering whether the entry-level Edge is worth it or just opt for the pricier model. Let’s dive in and see how these two phones compare.
The Motorola Edge (2023) arrived in October 2023, about five months after the debut of its flagship sibling, with a sticker price of $599. However, at launch, Motorola and most other retailers were selling it for $100 off, and it’s now routinely discounted for at least that much. The Edge (2023) comes only in Eclipse Black with a vegan leather finish and a single 256GB storage configuration with 8GB of RAM.
The Motorola Edge+ (2023) went on sale in May 2023 through all the usual channels, with a standard retail price of $800 for the single 512GB/8GB configuration. Like its more affordable sibling, it’s also only available in basic black — Interstellar Black, in this case — and is frequently on sale.
Both of the 2023 Motorola Edge models can be found at all the big US carriers, although the premium Edge+ won’t be available on many of the smaller MVNOs. Nevertheless, it’s sold unlocked, so you can purchase it from traditional retailers like Amazon or Best Buy and use it wherever you like.
Some of the design differences between the Motorola Edge and Edge+ will seem familiar to anyone who has compared the two 2023 Razr models. The Edge+ gets a premium aesthetic, while the Edge gets vegan leather on the exterior.
However, that may be where the similarities end. While Motorola did an excellent job of making its flip phones fun and whimsical, the Motorola Edge duo is considerably more serious. As the old saying goes, both phones come in any color you like, as long as it’s black.
For the Edge+, that’s Interstellar Black, a name likely inspired by the smooth, matte surface’s sparkly effect. We found that it feels great in hand — provided you can hold onto it, that is. It’s a slippery phone, and during our time with it, we concluded that you probably won’t want to use it long without a case. It’s a bit disappointing, as the Edge+ also switches to an aluminum frame and a more subtle camera bump, resulting in a more elegant look than we’re accustomed to seeing from Motorola, even if it doesn’t stand out from the pack.
On the other hand, you’ll have a much easier time holding on to the Eclipse Black Edge thanks to its vegan leather finish. It feels great and adds enough panache to the design — even in basic black — to make you want to forego a case so you can show it off.
Ironically, that may be a riskier proposition with the Edge since, even though it’s grippy enough that you’re less likely to drop it, it doesn’t offer the same durability level as the more expensive Plus model. While the Edge+ gets Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and back, the standard Edge oddly omits this in favor of NEG glass, made by Nippon Electric Glass.
Motorola claims it’s as durable as Gorilla Glass, but most reports suggest that it’s more about scratch resistance than impact protection. We found that it did hold up well against scratches during our time with it. The good news is that while the glass may not be the same, both phones offer IP68 dust and water resistance.
Like their foldable counterparts, one thing that impressed us about the Motorola Edge versus the Edge+ is that the more affordable phone doesn’t cut any serious corners in its display technology.
Both Edge models feature the same bright P-OLED 1080p display technology, although “bright” is a relative term here. The two phones compare well to each other at 1,300 nits, but that number has been left in the dust by many other recent mid-to-high-end smartphone releases, which seem to have moved the goalposts to 2,000 nits and beyond. Nevertheless, we had no problems reading the screen of either phone outdoors on a bright day.
The Moto Edge+ gets a slightly larger screen at 6.7 inches versus 6.6 inches on the Edge, but both have an identical 2400 x 1080 resolution and the same 20:9 aspect ratio. The difference that 0.1 inches makes in pixel density is basically just a rounding error, and both screens are crisp and easy to read. However, we found the colors could be oversaturated under certain conditions. Thankfully, you can play with this a bit in the settings app.
The Motorola Edge+ offers a higher refresh rate at 165Hz versus 144Hz on the Edge, but we don’t think that’s reason enough in itself to opt for the Plus model. 120Hz is the sweet spot among high refresh rates on smartphones, and anything beyond that is typically more about giving companies bragging rights on spec sheets than offering practical benefits to everyday users.
Sadly, Motorola hasn’t entirely abandoned curved screens yet, but at least the company has decided to go for a bit more subtlety with the Edge+, which reduces the radius of the curved screen while still preserving edge lighting and not entirely eliminating the downside of accidental taps. We found these especially pronounced in landscape mode, leaving us convinced that any amount of curvature is still too much.
Still, we acknowledge that’s a matter of personal taste, and if you’re a fan of that style, the Edge+ may still give you just enough to satisfy your curve craving; however, the Edge leans into its curves with a vengeance. As we noted in our review, it’s a “dramatic slope” that hearkens back to the days when curves were all the rage among flagships from Samsung to LG.
One of the things we’ve always enjoyed about Motorola’s phones is its purist approach to Android. In an era when even Google is getting fancier with its Pixel phones, Motorola’s Edge models keep things as clean and simple by adding almost nothing to the stock Android experience.
In this regard, you won’t find much difference between the two phones. Even though the Edge was released in October, both came with Android 13 out of the box with the usual assortment of Motorola’s unobtrusive and useful quality-of-life enhancements like weather and clock widgets and motion gestures.
At the time, Motorola’s reputation for timely software updates made us doubt that we’d be seeing Android 14 anytime soon, but the company pleasantly surprised us when it began rolling it out in late January. It’s still running behind the curve compared to most other handset makers, but it gives us hope for the future of Motorola’s software updates.
As does Motorola’s new update promise. At one time, Motorola phones were lucky to get one major Android update before they were left behind, relegated only to receiving the occasional security patch. However, last year, Motorola upped that to promise three years of OS upgrades, which should bring them both to Android 16 in 2025, plus four years of security patches.
We don’t want to fault Motorola for making some progress here, but it’s an update guarantee that now pales against Google and Samsung’s new seven-year promise. Three years might have been impressive two years ago; today, it’s barely even table stakes.
Perhaps the most significant place where the Motorola Edge+ stands out is in raw horsepower. Motorola’s flagship packs in a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the class-leading Android SoC of 2023, and the same chip used in Samsung’s entire Galaxy S23 lineup.
This gives the Motorola Edge+ power to spare for everything from multitasking to the latest mobile games. It’s on par with other phones that use the same chip, and we couldn’t find anything that came close to overwhelming it. It didn’t warm up at all during everyday use; it took an extended game of Honkai: Star Rail, before we felt even a bit of heat, although the game itself ran flawlessly, even at maximum settings that took full advantage of the 165Hz display.
That puts the Edge+ at an order of magnitude faster than the Edge, which uses a MediaTek Dimensity 7030 chip. It’s a capable and power-efficient performer, so you shouldn’t expect any problems during everyday use, and the 8GB RAM provides the same decent headroom for multitasking.
However, if you’re looking for a gaming phone, this is not it. We found mobile games like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty Mobile playable at low settings with lower frame rates — kind of a waste of the 144Hz display — but even then, we ran into slowdowns and stutters when the action heated up.
Motorola has always done itself a bit of a disservice with its Moto G Power phone series, as this leads many to believe that those are the only Moto models that deliver above-average battery life.
However, nothing could be further from the truth. While the Moto Power does punch above its weight class, Motorola’s phones have long boasted best-in-class battery life across nearly the entire lineup, and the Edge+ and Edge both deliver impressive results.
In short, you’ll have no problem getting all-day battery life from either model. Although the Edge+ packs in a larger cell, at 5,100mAh compared to 4,400mAh on the Edge, the lower-power MediaTek chip on the more affordable model makes up for that difference.
We found that the Motorola Edge+ could easily make it through two full days of light to moderate use with 15% left in the tank 48 hours after it was first taken off the charger. That worked out to about 6.5 hours of screen time, similar to what we got from the Motorola Edge.
Both phones are also on par for charging, featuring 68W wired charging, giving you a full top-up in under an hour, plus standard 15W wireless and 5W reverse wireless charging. The only significant difference is that the Edge+ includes the TurboPower 68W charger in the box, while Motorola has left it out of the Edge, presumably as a cost-cutting measure. Since that charger will run you $70 on its own, that narrows the price gap between the two models for anyone who cares about getting the fastest possible charging.
Nobody will ever accuse a Motorola phone of offering top-notch camera quality, but the Motorola Edge+ does a surprisingly good job by the company’s usual standards.
The triple-lens camera on the Edge+ offers hardware specs that rival some of the best flagships — the 50-megapixel (MP) primary lens has an aperture and sensor size that matches the Galaxy S23+. However, it’s what Motorola does with that — or fails to do — that distinguishes it from other premium smartphones, and not in a good way.
That’s not to say that the Motorola Edge+ doesn’t deliver good pictures, but we found that it lacked the same “wow” factor we get from a Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy S series. The colors are accurate and vibrant enough in photos taken under ideal conditions, and it’s a solid camera if all you’re concerned about is shooting Instagram-ready shots.
The good news is that the standard Edge delivers similar results, so you aren’t compromising photo quality by stepping down to the lower model. As with many premium/mid-tier splits, what you’re losing here is the extra telephoto camera. In this case, it’s a 12MP shooter on the Edge+ that delivers a 2X zoom that’s somewhat mundane by today’s standards.
That telephoto lens on the Edge+ is a nice bonus to everything else the premium package offers, but it’s hard to see it as a huge selling point over the standard Edge since anyone who wants to take the best pictures from their smartphone really shouldn’t consider either model. Both phones will get the job done for casual photographers, but a Google Pixel will deliver significantly better photographic results in the same price range.
While you may be tempted by the lower price tag of the Motorola Edge, especially if you can find it on sale, we think most should seriously consider spending the extra money to get what the Motorola Edge+ has to offer.
In addition to a more premium and durable design, the Edge+ packs in Qualcomm’s leading-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. It’s the one area where the Motorola flagship is on par with its contemporaries, delivering more than enough performance to handle even the most demanding mobile games with aplomb, and excellent battery life to match. You also get Motorola’s TurboPower 68W charger included for the fastest possible charging right out of the box. That’s a $70 add-on for the Motorola Edge.
Nevertheless, if you’re on a budget, the Motorola Edge is still a very capable phone, and while the standard price makes it a tough sell against the Edge+, it could be easier to stomach if you can find a deal. The vegan leather finish feels great and grippy, and you get a vibrant screen and competent camera system that are both remarkably close to what the Edge+ offers.
Maybe if we start telling people the brain is an app they will start using it!
