Motorola Edge 50

The Motorola Edge 50 is a design-led upper mid-range phone that mixes a large curved pOLED screen, a three-camera system with a 3x telephoto lens, 68W wired and 15W wireless charging and an IP68 rating in a body 7.79 mm thick. It uses a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition processor, wears vegan leather or suede, and aims at people who want a flagship-style feature list without a flagship price. This review is based on the published specifications and Motorola's own pages, and it presents the company's performance and battery statements as claims, not as measured results.

Where it sits in the lineup

Motorola announced the Edge 50 globally on 29 August 2024 together with the smaller Edge 50 Neo, noting that the Edge 50 was already on sale in India, Mexico and selected Middle East markets, and that European sales started that day at a starting price of 599 euros. Rollout to Latin America, Asia and Oceania followed in the weeks after. It should not be confused with the Edge 50 Pro or the Edge 50 Fusion, which are different models with different chips and cameras. Its successor line includes the Motorola Edge 60, and the cheaper Moto G range, such as the Moto G35, covers the budget end of Motorola's catalogue. Motorola did not publish a US price on the pages consulted, so none is given here.

Design and display

The phone measures 160.8 x 72.4 x 7.79 mm and weighs 180 g according to Motorola's specification page, which makes it compact for a phone with a 6.67-inch screen. The back is vegan leather on the Jungle Green and Peach Fuzz versions and vegan suede on Koala Grey, and the front is covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Peach Fuzz is Pantone's colour of the year for 2024. Motorola states IP68 dust and water resistance, which in its footnote means immersion in up to 1.5 metres of fresh water for up to 30 minutes, and the newsroom release adds that the phone was engineered to the MIL-STD-810H standard, a set of military test procedures that is not a guarantee against damage.

The screen is a 6.67-inch pOLED panel with curved edges, a Super HD resolution of 2712 x 1220 pixels (about 446 ppi), a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 100 percent DCI-P3 colour and 10-bit depth. Motorola lists a high-brightness mode of 1,200 nits and a peak HDR brightness of 1,600 nits, plus touch sampling of 360Hz in gaming mode and SGS certifications for blue-light reduction and motion blur reduction. The fingerprint reader sits under the screen. Motorola adds that the actual refresh rate depends on the app and device settings.

Performance and software

The chip is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition, a mid-range platform that Motorola pairs with 12GB of LPDDR4X memory and 512GB of storage on its US and UK specification pages. Configurations vary by market, and Motorola's product page mentions up to 512GB of storage together with a RAM Boost feature that uses storage as virtual memory; that feature does not increase the physical RAM. There is no memory card slot. This processor is a generation older than the one in many rivals, and Motorola quotes no benchmark scores, so none are given here. In daily use it should be smooth for browsing, video and social apps, but it will not match the latest flagship chips in demanding games.

The phone ships with Android 14. Motorola emphasises its Moto AI features, such as Style Sync wallpapers, Magic Canvas image generation, Moto Unplugged for reducing distractions, Family Space for children and Smart Connect for projecting content to a television or PC. The page does not state the number of OS upgrades or years of security updates, so that is a point to check for your market. Security features include the in-display fingerprint reader and Motorola's ThinkShield. Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC and a dual-SIM arrangement of one nano SIM plus an eSIM are listed.

Camera

The rear system has three lenses. The main camera is 50MP with an f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilisation, quad-pixel autofocus and a Sony LYTIA sensor, according to the newsroom, and Motorola's Ultra Pixel technology combines pixels to give an effective 2.0 micrometre pixel size for better low-light results. A 13MP ultrawide camera with a 120 degree field of view also works as a macro camera, and a 10MP telephoto lens gives 3x optical zoom with optical stabilisation; Motorola says it supports up to 30x super-zoom, which relies on digital processing. A 3x telephoto is a real advantage in this price class, because most rivals offer only a main and an ultrawide camera.

The selfie camera is 32MP with an f/2.4 aperture and autofocus. Video options on the main camera are 4K at 30 frames per second, Full HD at 60 or 30 frames per second, and slow motion of Full HD at 120 and HD at 240 frames per second. Features include Portrait mode at 24, 35, 50 and 85mm equivalent focal lengths, long exposure, night vision, RAW output and Quick Capture by twisting the wrist twice. As always, image quality depends on processing, and Motorola's own copy describes the camera in marketing terms rather than with test data.

Battery and charging

The battery is 5,000 mAh. Motorola says it gives over 30 hours of battery life on a single charge, based on a median user and a mixed-use profile, and rates it at 1,200 cycles. Wired charging is 68W TurboPower, which Motorola says can give a full day of power in about 15 minutes; the footnotes make clear that this needs a 68W charger which is sold separately, and that the charging rate falls as the battery fills. Wireless charging at 15W needs a Motorola charging stand that is also sold separately. Many buyers therefore need to budget for a charger. The phone has stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, but there is no headphone jack, and the USB-C port runs at USB 2.0 speed.

Who it is for

The Edge 50 suits buyers who want a phone that looks and feels different from the glass-and-metal norm, with a bright 120Hz screen, a real telephoto camera, fast wired and wireless charging and water resistance. Its fairly clean software and moderate size also appeal to people who dislike oversized phones. Those who need the latest chip for heavy gaming or the longest software support should look at newer models; a direct comparison with the next generation is on the Motorola Edge 50 versus Motorola Edge 60 page, and the flagship end of the brand is represented by the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025.

Compromises to know about

• Processor: the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition is mid-range and dated by newer standards.
• Charger: the 68W charger and the wireless stand are sold separately.
• Storage: no memory card slot, and configurations differ by country.
• Audio and ports: no headphone jack and USB 2.0 speed.
• Updates: the number of promised OS upgrades is not stated on the pages consulted.
• Naming: do not confuse it with the Edge 50 Pro, Fusion or Neo, which have different hardware.

To see how its published specifications compare with other phones on the site, open the phone rankings.