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 gadgets stand out from the ocean of boring glass handsets.
Should you’re an purchaser, choosing the perfect Motorola cellphone may be robust as a result of the corporate launches many fashions every year. 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 Ultra to the Moto G Stylus 2025.
Take a look at 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 June 2025: We have added the Motorola Edge 2025.
What’s WIRED About Motorola Telephones?
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{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola telephones have a easy Android interface. This implies the corporate hasn’t achieved a lot to gunk up the software program. It’s easy and simple to make use of. There’s more and more a whole lot of bloatware, however you may simply uninstall nearly all of it.
They arrive with plenty of storage. The corporate stuffs 256 GB as customary into most of its smartphones, even among the low cost fashions. Most Android flagship gadgets nonetheless include simply 128 GB. Motorola can also be one of many solely cellphone manufacturers to nonetheless embody a microSD card slot to develop storage on lots of its gadgets, and the Moto G telephones retain the headphone jack.
There’s broad provider assist. Whereas some Android cellphone manufacturers have inconsistent provider assist 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-Cellular, AT&T, and Verizon. Ensure you purchase them unlocked.
The costs dip very often. By no means purchase a Motorola cellphone at its MSRP. They nearly at all times go on sale a number of 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. Many of the Moto G telephones solely obtain one OS Android replace—although that is altering in 2025 with new gadgets getting two upgrades—together with three years of safety updates. Fewer updates imply you miss out on new Android features rapidly. Even when a cellphone 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 nice photographs 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 can present a clock in your display even when the display is “off.” Motorola has Peek Show, which requires you to maneuver the cellphone or faucet the display to see something. It’s not an enormous deal, but it surely’s a function you would possibly miss if you happen to’re coming from one other cellphone. Newer Razr gadgets 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
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Razr Extremely (2025)
The Razr Extremely (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the perfect purpose to get a Motorola cellphone over the likes of Samsung, Apple, and Google. It is a assertion piece, not simply because it is a compact folding flip cellphone, however as a result of Motorola presents it in a number of snazzy and classy designs. There’s the Mountain Path, which employs sustainably sourced wooden; Scarab, the primary use of Alcantara on a smartphone; Rio Purple, a leather-inspired end; and Cabaret, which appears like satin. You may be exhausting pressed to discover a cellphone that appears this modern as of late.
The spacious 4-inch OLED display 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 cellphone. When you do, you are handled to a big 7-inch AMOLED show that is sharp, brilliant, 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 via and thru (which explains the excessive value), from 512 GB of inside storage to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset powering all of it. Efficiency just isn’t 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 time might discover themselves reaching for the charger earlier than bedtime. Not less than it helps quick charging speeds, wired and wirelessly.
The cameras are a pleasant enchancment—you may get fairly nice photographs from the 50-megapixel major digicam and the 50-megapixel ultrawide. You could keep nonetheless in low gentle, particularly since Motorola confusingly hides the Night time mode operate within the “Extra” tab of the digicam app. (It would not robotically kick in in low gentle.) The very best half is that you need to use the superior major cameras—usually on the “again” of the cellphone, however are actually on the entrance—to snap selfies and see previews on this exterior display. They’re among the sharpest selfies you’ll snap.
Video seize can also be a lot better on the Extremely than on every other Motorola cellphone. When you allow Dolby Imaginative and prescient (and also you do should faucet it manually), you may get well-exposed footage that is not too grainy or shaky. The digicam outcomes, whether or not in photograph or video, nonetheless do not fairly match the competitors at this value, however that is nonetheless Motorola’s finest digicam system thus far.
The software program expertise is nice, aside from all the bogus intelligence options Motorola is advertising. Copilot! Perplexity! Gemini! Moto AI! There is a boatload of choices, even a devoted AI button, although I have never discovered Moto AI too useful. The very best perk is Pay Consideration, which makes the cellphone begin recording with real-time transcriptions—helpful for interviews, however that is a typical function on most telephones, and Motorola’s implementation is inferior. It is also a disgrace that Motorola’s software program replace coverage continues to be inferior to the competitors.
As at all times, I like to recommend ready for an enormous sale occasion, as Motorola telephones are often discounted. The Razr Extremely is the costliest Razr thus far, however I feel it’s going to be a terrific 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 modern than every other smartphone on the market, and you will really feel tremendous glad ending a cellphone name with a flip.
The Finest Low-cost Folding Cellphone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
You needn’t spend $1,300 to get an excellent folding flip cellphone. 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’s going to nonetheless stutter right here and there, however that is not a defining facet of this cellphone 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 brilliant, even when they’re barely smaller.
Cameras are its weak level in comparison with the Extremely. You will get some good photographs, however they’re going to battle extra in high-contrast scenes, look grainy in low gentle, 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 unimaginable worth, whereas nonetheless managing to look attractive.
Finest Moto G Cellphone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Moto G Stylus 2025
The Moto G Stylus 2025 is the perfect Moto G cellphone proper now, which could be a given contemplating it is the priciest mannequin within the household. Nonetheless, for $400, it is among the best smartphone values available on the market. Because the title suggests, it comes with a built-in stylus—the one different cellphone with that function is Samsung’s $1,300 Galaxy S25 Ultra.
It is a slim and fantastically blue cellphone. My mother stated it appeared good. Even a stranger stopped me to ask what cellphone I used to be utilizing! The Surf the Net blue actually pops with the vegan leather-based again, although you may get it in a extra muted Gibraltar Sea coloration. You may discover a headphone jack on the underside, a rarity in immediately’s smartphone local weather, and pop open the SIM tray to discover a spot so as to add a microSD card, one other rapidly disappearing feature. Motorola additionally consists of 256 GB of storage, a pleasant bump in comparison with pricier smartphones that provide solely 128 GB.
You get a 120-Hz AMOLED 6.7-inch display that is loads brilliant in sunny situations, and passable, stutter-free efficiency with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset. It won’t really feel the speediest, however that is the smoothest-performing Moto G; I’ve not often seen uneven animations within the interface. Talking of, there’s a great deal of bloatware apps within the Android 15 working system, however they’re simple to uninstall.
The 5,000-mAh battery in tow has often lasted a full day for me with roughly 35 % left by bedtime, with common to excessive use. It isn’t fairly a two-day cellphone. You possibly can prime it again up pretty rapidly with Motorola’s 68-watt TurboPower charging system, however I’ve largely juiced it with my Qi wireless charger with no issues.
I have been impressed with the 50-megapixel major digicam. It takes crisp photographs in good lighting, and in low-light settings, Motorola’s Night time mode does a pleasant job of preserving particulars and shadows. The catch is it’s essential be very nonetheless—any motion and you will find yourself with a blurry shot. (I’ve a number of of these in my digicam roll.) I feel most individuals shall be pleased with the outcomes.
The issue? There’s a considerably higher cellphone for simply $100 extra: the Google Pixel 9a. Google will assist that system for seven years, and it additionally comes with flagship-grade efficiency, higher cameras, and extra sensible software program options. The Moto G Stylus will solely get two Android OS upgrades and three years of safety updates. That is exactly why you should purchase it on sale. Await this Moto cellphone to drop to $300 or $330.
