Motorola telephones usually play third (or fourth) fiddle to Samsung and Google, however the winds are altering. Motorola is now one of many fastest-growing mobile companies on the earth, and the corporate claims its Razr folding smartphones are the primary within the flip class in North America. The corporate has additionally been experimenting with colourful Android telephones and enjoyable textures, making its units stand out from the ocean of boring glass handsets.
When you’re an purchaser, selecting the very best Motorola telephone could be robust, as a result of the corporate launches many fashions annually. I’ve examined nearly all of them, and on this information I break down the professionals and cons and steer you towards my favourite Moto fashions—from the Razr Extremely to the Moto G Stylus 2025.
Try our mobile buying guides for extra, together with the Best Android Phones, Best Samsung Phones, Best Cheap Phones, Best Pixel Phones, and Best Phones With a Headphone Jack.
Desk of Contents
Up to date Might 2025: We have added the Motorola Razr 2025 sequence.
What’s WIRED About Motorola Telephones
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola telephones have a easy Android interface. This implies the corporate hasn’t completed a lot to gunk up the software program. It’s easy and simple to make use of. There’s more and more loads of bloatware, however you’ll be able to simply uninstall nearly all of it.
They arrive with numerous storage. The corporate stuffs 256 GB as customary into most of its smartphones, even a few of the low cost fashions. Most Android flagship units nonetheless include simply 128 GB. Motorola can also be one of many solely telephone manufacturers to nonetheless embody a microSD card slot to develop storage on lots of its units, and the Moto G telephones retain the headphone jack.
There’s broad provider help. Whereas some Android telephone manufacturers have inconsistent provider help within the US, like Nothing, Motorola telephones usually work on most if not all networks (the corporate lists carrier support details within the Specs part of all its telephones). All of them work on the massive three—T-Cell, AT&T, and Verizon. Be sure to purchase them unlocked.
The costs dip very often. By no means purchase a Motorola telephone at its MSRP. They nearly all the time go on sale just a few months (or weeks) after launch, generally at steep reductions.
What’s TIRED About Motorola Telephones
Motorola’s software program updates are lackluster. The corporate is slowly bettering right here—it guarantees to ship three Android OS updates and 4 years of bimonthly safety updates to its high-end smartphones however nonetheless lags behind its peers. A lot of the Moto G telephones solely obtain one OS Android replace—although that is altering in 2025 with new units getting two upgrades—together with three years of safety updates. Fewer updates imply you miss out on new Android features rapidly. Even when a telephone is promised updates, they take a lengthy time to reach.
The cameras are lackluster. Among the many issues placing Motorola behind the likes of Samsung, Apple, and Google are the cameras. Moto telephones can take high quality images however they’re eclipsed by their friends. Motorola made some enhancements with its high-end telephones but it surely’s nonetheless behind.
There’s no always-on show. Most Android telephones have a setting you can toggle on in order for you an always-on show that may present a clock in your display screen even when the display screen is “off.” Motorola has Peek Show, which requires you to maneuver the telephone or faucet the display screen to see something. It’s not an enormous deal, but it surely’s a function you would possibly miss in case you’re coming from one other telephone. Newer Razr units lastly broke the mildew with always-on shows, but it surely’s nonetheless not current within the firm’s different merchandise.
The Finest Motorola Cellphone
The Razr Extremely (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the very best cause to get a Motorola telephone over the likes of Samsung, Apple, and Google. It is a assertion piece, not simply because it is a compact folding flip telephone, however as a result of Motorola gives it in a number of snazzy and trendy designs. There’s the Mountain Path, which employs sustainably sourced wooden; Scarab, the primary use of Alcantara on a smartphone; Rio Pink, a leather-inspired end; and Cabaret, which looks like satin. You may be arduous pressed to discover a telephone that appears this trendy lately.
The spacious 4-inch OLED display screen has extra customization choices than ever, with the power so as to add extra widgets for glanceable info, so that you needn’t consistently open the telephone. When you do, you are handled to a big 7-inch AMOLED show that is sharp, vivid, and easy due to the 165-Hz refresh rate. Motorola has improved the Razr Extremely’s sturdiness with a brand new Gorilla Glass Ceramic combination for the screens that makes it harder to crack, and the titanium-reinforced hinge design is supposedly stronger, too. It now has an IP48 rating, providing some correct mud safety.
Motorola has stuffed flagship options by means of and thru (which explains the excessive value), from 512 GB of inside storage to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset powering all of it. Efficiency is just not an issue in any respect, with apps and video games working easily. This Razr Extremely additionally has the most important battery ever in a Razr at 4,700 mAh, and it reliably lasted me a full day with common use. That stated, energy customers who rack up display screen time might discover themselves reaching for the charger earlier than bedtime. A minimum of it helps quick charging speeds, wired and wirelessly.
The cameras are a pleasant enchancment—you will get fairly nice images from the 50-megapixel main digicam and the 50-megapixel ultrawide. It’s essential keep nonetheless in low mild, particularly since Motorola confusingly hides the Night time mode operate within the “Extra” tab of the digicam app. (It would not mechanically kick in in low mild.) The most effective half is that you should utilize the superior main cameras—usually on the “again” of the telephone, however are actually on the entrance—to snap selfies and see previews on this exterior display screen. They’re a few of the sharpest selfies you’ll snap.
Video seize can also be significantly better on the Extremely than on another Motorola telephone. When you allow Dolby Imaginative and prescient (and also you do need to faucet it manually), you will get well-exposed footage that is not too grainy or shaky. The digicam outcomes, whether or not in picture or video, nonetheless do not fairly match the competitors at this value, however that is nonetheless Motorola’s greatest digicam system to this point.
The software program expertise is nice, aside from all the unreal intelligence options Motorola is advertising and marketing. Copilot! Perplexity! Gemini! Moto AI! There is a boatload of choices, even a devoted AI button, although I have not discovered Moto AI too useful. The most effective perk is Pay Consideration, which makes the telephone begin recording with real-time transcriptions—helpful for interviews, however that is a standard function on most telephones. It is also a disgrace that Motorola’s software program replace coverage continues to be inferior to the competitors.
As all the time, I like to recommend ready for an enormous sale occasion, as Motorola telephones are continuously discounted. The Razr Extremely is the most costly Razr to this point, however I believe it will be an ideal purchase as soon as it comes nearer to $1,000 or $1,100. It barely takes up any room in your pocket or purse, will look extra trendy than another smartphone on the market, and you may really feel tremendous glad ending a telephone name with a flip.
The Finest Low-cost Folding Cellphone
You needn’t spend $1,300 to get a very good folding flip telephone. The Razr 2025 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) wins the “Most Improved” award as a result of efficiency is lastly not as uneven as on prior fashions. Thoughts you, it will nonetheless stutter right here and there, however that is not a defining facet of this telephone anymore. My expertise with it wasn’t massively completely different from the Razr Extremely—battery life is roughly the identical, lasting a full day with common use, and the screens are good and vivid, even when they’re barely smaller.
Cameras are its weak level in comparison with the Extremely. You will get some good images, however they will battle extra in high-contrast scenes, look grainy in low mild, and really feel a bit extra processed. Pores and skin tones and colours are additionally not as correct as with the pricier sibling, and video seize is noticeably worse. Nonetheless, contemplating the $700 value for a folding smartphone, it is an unbelievable worth, whereas nonetheless managing to look beautiful.
The Finest Trad Moto Cellphone
Notice: Motorola is predicted to announce a brand new 2025 Edge telephone this summer season.
This telephone is continuously on sale for $330, and it is a no-brainer for anybody on a price range. You get a big 6.6-inch AMOLED display screen with a 144-Hz screen refresh rate and speedy efficiency due to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset. It isn’t a flagship processor, however sufficient to ship snappy app launches and lag-free gameplay, and it is leagues higher than the efficiency you may discover on the opposite Motorola telephones featured beneath.
It has all of the fundamentals from NFC so you’ll be able to pay along with your telephone through Google Pockets, plus an IP68 water resistance rating, making certain it will not succumb to a drop within the pool. It helps wi-fi charging, comes with 256 GB of storage, and packs some fairly loud Dolby Atmos stereo audio system. I used it as my every day telephone for 2 weeks, and it carried out remarkably nicely. The 5,000-mAh battery comfortably lasts a full day with common use and sometimes can go nicely into the second day earlier than a top-up. Use the Edge closely, and it is firmly within the charge-once-a-day territory.
I do have just a few gripes, although. The Edge makes use of a so-called waterfall show, the place the glass on the entrance curves into the perimeters for a extra immersive look. It definitely seems to be fancy, however I’ve had a number of moments the place my fingers holding the telephone’s edges disrupted an motion I used to be making an attempt to finish with my different hand. This has lengthy been a difficulty on telephones with curved screens. It is easy to get used to and modify your grip rapidly, but it surely’s annoying.
Second, the 50-MP predominant digicam has a little bit of shutter lag, which could be irritating if you’re making an attempt to seize transferring topics (like my canine, who will not sit nonetheless). The pics you will get out of it are stable, completely acceptable pictures in the course of the day. The distinction is a bit of too robust generally, and it would not deal with high-contrast scenes all that nice, however there’s good element. In low mild, you may encounter just a few extra blurry images attributable to that shutter lag and shaky palms, but when the circumstances are proper, you will get some sharp, in-focus pictures. That is the place a telephone just like the Google Pixel 9a handily beats the Edge 2024.
Sadly, Motorola guarantees solely two Android OS upgrades (as much as Android 16) and three years of safety updates to the Edge 2024. The Pixel 9a will get seven years of software program help. That is certainly one of Motorola’s largest weaknesses, however this will not be as a lot of a difficulty at its frequent sale value.
