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 cell corporations on this planet, 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.
For those who’re an purchaser, selecting the most effective Motorola cellphone could be powerful as a result of the corporate launches many fashions every year. I’ve examined virtually 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.
Take a look at our cell shopping for guides for extra, together with the Greatest Android Telephones, Greatest Samsung Telephones, Greatest Low cost Telephones, Greatest Pixel Telephones, and Greatest Telephones 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?
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola telephones have a easy Android interface. This implies the corporate hasn’t carried out 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 may simply uninstall virtually 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 embrace a microSD card slot to broaden storage on lots of its gadgets, and the Moto G telephones retain the headphone jack.
There’s broad service assist. Whereas some Android cellphone manufacturers have inconsistent service assist within the US, like Nothing, Motorola telephones usually work on most if not all networks (the corporate lists service assist particulars 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 virtually 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 enhancing 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 friends. A lot 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 options shortly. 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 nevertheless it’s nonetheless behind.
There’s no always-on show. Most Android telephones have a setting you may toggle on if you’d like 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 a giant deal, nevertheless it’s a characteristic you would possibly miss in the event you’re coming from one other cellphone. Newer Razr gadgets lastly broke the mildew with always-on shows, nevertheless it’s nonetheless not current within the firm’s different merchandise.
The Greatest Motorola Cellphone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Razr Extremely (2025)
The Razr Extremely (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is the most effective 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 provides 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 Purple, a leather-inspired end; and Cabaret, which seems like satin. You will be laborious pressed to discover a cellphone that appears this modern lately.
The spacious 4-inch OLED display has extra customization choices than ever, with the flexibility so as to add extra widgets for glanceable data, so that you need not consistently open the cellphone. When you do, you are handled to a big 7-inch AMOLED show that is sharp, vibrant, and easy due to the 165-Hz refresh charge. 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 score, providing some correct mud safety.
Motorola has stuffed flagship options by way of and thru (which explains the excessive worth), from 512 GB of inner 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 largest battery ever in a Razr at 4,700 mAh, and it reliably lasted me a full day with common use. That mentioned, energy customers who rack up display time could discover themselves reaching for the charger earlier than bedtime. Not less than it helps quick charging speeds, wired and wirelessly.
Razr Extremely (left) within the Mountain Path wooden design. Razr 2025 (proper) within the Spring Bud leather-inspired look.
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
The cameras are a pleasant enchancment—you will get fairly nice photographs from the 50-megapixel main digicam and the 50-megapixel ultrawide. That you must keep nonetheless in low gentle, particularly since Motorola confusingly hides the Evening mode perform within the “Extra” tab of the digicam app. (It does not mechanically kick in in low gentle.) One of the best half is that you need to use the superior main cameras—sometimes 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 significantly better on the Extremely than on some other Motorola cellphone. When you allow Dolby Imaginative and prescient (and also you do should 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 worth, however that is nonetheless Motorola’s finest digicam system so far.
The software program expertise is nice, aside from all the synthetic 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. One of the best perk is Pay Consideration, which makes the cellphone begin recording with real-time transcriptions—useful for interviews, however that is a standard characteristic on most telephones, and Motorola’s implementation is inferior. It is also a disgrace that Motorola’s software program replace coverage remains to be inferior to the competitors.
As at all times, I like to recommend ready for a giant sale occasion, as Motorola telephones are incessantly discounted. The Razr Extremely is the costliest Razr so far, however I believe it’s going to be a fantastic 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 some other smartphone on the market, and you may really feel tremendous happy ending a cellphone name with a flip.
The Greatest Low cost Folding Cellphone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
You need not spend $1,300 to get a very good 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 totally different from the Razr Extremely—battery life is roughly the identical, lasting a full day with common use, and the screens are good and vibrant, even when they’re barely smaller.
Cameras are its weak level in comparison with the Extremely. You will get some good photographs, however they will wrestle 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 worth for a folding smartphone, it is an unimaginable worth, whereas nonetheless managing to look attractive.
Greatest Moto G Cellphone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Moto G Stylus 2025
The Moto G Stylus 2025 is the most effective 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 finest smartphone values available on the market. Because the identify suggests, it comes with a built-in stylus—the one different cellphone with that characteristic is Samsung’s $1,300 Galaxy S25 Extremely.
This can be a slim and fantastically blue cellphone. My mother mentioned it regarded 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 will get it in a extra muted Gibraltar Sea coloration. You will discover a headphone jack on the underside, a rarity in at present’s smartphone local weather, and pop open the SIM tray to discover a spot so as to add a microSD card, one other quickly disappearing characteristic. Motorola additionally consists of 256 GB of storage, a pleasant bump in comparison with pricier smartphones that supply solely 128 GB.
You get a 120-Hz AMOLED 6.7-inch display that is lots vibrant in sunny situations, and passable, stutter-free efficiency with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 chipset. It may not really feel the speediest, however that is the smoothest-performing Moto G; I’ve hardly ever 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 incessantly lasted a full day for me with roughly 35 p.c left by bedtime, with common to excessive use. It isn’t fairly a two-day cellphone. You’ll be able to prime it again up pretty shortly with Motorola’s 68-watt TurboPower charging system, however I’ve largely juiced it with my Qi wi-fi charger with no issues.
I have been impressed with the 50-megapixel primary digicam. It takes crisp photographs in good lighting, and in low-light settings, Motorola’s Evening mode does a pleasant job of preserving particulars and shadows. The catch is you should be very nonetheless—any motion and you may find yourself with a blurry shot. (I’ve a number of of these in my digicam roll.) I believe most individuals will likely 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 machine for seven years, and it additionally comes with flagship-grade efficiency, higher cameras, and extra good 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.
