Why You Can Trust CNET Motorola's 3 New Phones Bring Upgrades and Price Drops
Two new budget phones, the Moto G Stylus and Moto G 5G, and one new premium handset, the Motorola Edge Plus, hit US shores soon.
From left to right: A silver Moto G 5G, a light pink Moto G Stylus, and black Moto Edge Plus.
Motorola refreshed its budget and premium lineup with the latest editions of its top phones that trickle top perks down to the most affordable devices. The Motorola Edge Plus, Moto G Stylus and Moto G 5G are iterations of last year's devices with a few new tricks. It's a steady course for the phone maker, which sits at third behind Apple and Samsung for phones shipped in the US market. These phones have lower prices than their predecessors, though there are some compromises to get those price drops.
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The Motorola Edge Plus 2023 comes in a standard black, starts at $799 and is available starting May 9 at Boost Infinite and Boost Mobile followed by Spectrum Mobile and Consumer Cellular, with an unlocked release at online retailers on May 25.
The more affordable Moto G 5G comes in dark blue and silver gray, starts at $249 and is available on May 25 on Motorola's website, select online retailers and prepaid carriers. The Moto G Stylus 2023 comes in dark blue and bright pink, starts at $199 and is available on May 5 on Motorola's website and select online retailers.
Motorola Edge Plus 2023
The new Motorola Edge Plus.
The flashiest phone of the trio is the Motorola Edge Plus 2023, which is a renamed Motorola Edge 40 Pro that hit European shores last month. This year's Edge Plus improves on last year's model by adding a few perks like the under-display fingerprint sensor as well as a telephoto lens, which returns from Motorola's first Edge Plus premium phone in 2020.
Note that, in typical Motorola fashion, there are some differences between the Motorola Edge 40 Pro released in Europe and the Motorola Edge Plus 2023 that's coming to the US. Say goodbye to the blazing-fast 125-watt recharging, as the Edge Plus will cap out at 68 watts -- but in the bargain, it gets a 10% larger battery with a 5,100mAh capacity.
The Edge Plus has a 6.7-inch, 2,400x1,080-pixel OLED display with HDR10+ and a 165Hz refresh rate, which technically updates faster than the last Edge Plus's 144Hz refresh rate screen. Most people likely won't be able to tell the difference.
The Edge Plus packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset (the same as in this year's Samsung Galaxy S23 series), 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage without the option for expandable storage via microSD card. It runs Android 13 with three years of updates and four years of twice-monthly security updates. In addition to 68-watt wired charging, the Edge Plus has 15-watt wireless charging and can recharge other devices at a rate of 5 watts.
The Edge Plus has a triple rear camera consisting of a 50-megapixel, f1.8 main shooter, a 50-megapixel ultrawide with 114-degree field of view capture and a 12-megapixel, 2x optical zoom camera. The phone also has a 60-megapixel, f2.2 front-facing shooter, and can take 4K video in 60fps with the main and ultrawide cameras.
Moto G 5G 2023
The new Moto G 5G.
The big improvements on this year's affordable Moto G phones are a switch to stereo speakers from just one in last year's phones, as well as faster refresh rates on screens for smoother scrolling.
The Moto G 5G 2023 is Motorola's affordable 5G phone, with a design shift to squared-off sides that make it look a bit like Apple's latest flagships (except in an all-black color). The budget phone has a 6.5-inch, 1,600x720-pixel LCD display with up to 120Hz refresh rate, which is smoother than the 90Hz in last year's Moto G 5G 2022.
The G 5G 2023 packs a Snapdragon 480 Plus 5G chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage, which is expandable to 1TB via microSD card. That's down from 6GB in last year's Moto G 5G, but this year's version got a significant price drop down to $250 from last year's $400 pricetag. It keeps the same 5,000-mAh capacity battery with 15-watt charging speed, though crucially, it only includes a 10-watt charger in the box.
Moto G Stylus 2023
The new Moto G Stylus.
The Moto G Stylus 2023 is the newest edition of what Motorola reports is its most popular affordable phone. In addition to its titular stylus, this 4G LTE-only phone has a 6.5-inch display capable of 90Hz refresh rate, slightly smaller than the 6.8-inch screen on last year's G Stylus.
Indeed, several of the phone's specs have gotten downgraded compared to last year's G Stylus, likely in efforts to halve its price tag. This year's G Stylus runs MediaTek Helio G85 chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage (expandable to 1TB via microSD card), which is down from the 2022 G Stylus' Helio G88 chipset, 6GB of RAM and baseline 128GB of storage. The two rear cameras have been unchanged, with a 48-megapixel main shooter and a 2-megapixel macro depth lens for portrait shots, as well as an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.