Motorola telephones typically 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, choosing the most effective Motorola cellphone may be robust 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 Ultra 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 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 executed a lot to gunk up the software program. It’s easy and straightforward to make use of. There’s more and more quite a lot of bloatware, however you possibly can simply uninstall virtually all of it.
They arrive with numerous storage. The corporate stuffs 256 GB as normal into most of its smartphones, even a few of the low-cost fashions. Most Android flagship units nonetheless include simply 128 GB. Motorola can be one of many solely cellphone manufacturers to nonetheless embrace a microSD card slot to broaden storage on a lot of its units, and the Moto G telephones retain the headphone jack.
There’s broad provider help. Whereas some Android cellphone manufacturers have inconsistent provider help within the US, like Nothing, Motorola telephones typically 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 virtually at all times go on sale a number of months (or weeks) after launch, typically 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 units getting two upgrades—together with three years of safety updates. Fewer updates imply you miss out on new Android features 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 positive pictures however they’re eclipsed by their friends. Motorola made some enhancements with its high-end telephones however it’s nonetheless behind.
There’s no always-on show. Most Android telephones have a setting you can toggle on if you’d like an always-on show that may 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, however it’s a characteristic you would possibly miss should you’re coming from one other cellphone. Newer Razr units lastly broke the mildew with always-on shows, however it’s nonetheless not current within the firm’s different merchandise.
The Finest Motorola Telephone
{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 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 Crimson, a leather-inspired end; and Cabaret, which looks like satin. You will be arduous pressed to discover a cellphone that appears this modern nowadays.
The spacious 4-inch OLED display has extra customization choices than ever, with the power 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, 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 and thru (which explains the excessive worth), from 512 GB of inside storage to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset powering all of it. Efficiency 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. At the very least it helps quick charging speeds, wired and wirelessly.
The cameras are a pleasant enchancment—you will get fairly nice pictures from the 50-megapixel major digital camera and the 50-megapixel ultrawide. You want to keep nonetheless in low mild, particularly since Motorola confusingly hides the Evening mode operate within the “Extra” tab of the digital camera app. (It would not routinely kick in in low mild.) One of the best half is that you should use the superior major cameras—sometimes on the “again” of the cellphone, however at the moment are on the entrance—to snap selfies and see previews on this exterior display. They’re a few of the sharpest selfies you’ll snap.
Video seize can be significantly better on the Extremely than on every other Motorola cellphone. When you allow Dolby Imaginative and prescient (and also you do must faucet it manually), you will get well-exposed footage that is not too grainy or shaky. The digital camera outcomes, whether or not in picture or video, nonetheless do not fairly match the competitors at this worth, however that is nonetheless Motorola’s greatest digital camera system thus 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 not so good as the competitors.
As at all times, I like to recommend ready for a giant sale occasion, as Motorola telephones are ceaselessly discounted. The Razr Extremely is the most costly Razr thus far, however I feel it’s going to be an awesome 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 may really feel tremendous glad ending a cellphone name with a flip.
The Finest Low cost Folding Telephone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
You need not spend $1,300 to get 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 vivid, even when they’re barely smaller.
Cameras are its weak level in comparison with the Extremely. You will get some good pictures, 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 worth for a folding smartphone, it is an unbelievable worth, whereas nonetheless managing to look beautiful.
Finest Moto G Telephone
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Motorola
Moto G Stylus 2025
The Moto G Stylus 2025 is the most effective Moto G cellphone proper now, which is likely to be a given contemplating it is the priciest mannequin within the household. Nonetheless, for $400, it is among the best smartphone values in the marketplace. 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 Ultra.
This can be a slim and fantastically blue cellphone. My mother mentioned it seemed good. Even a stranger stopped me to ask what cellphone I used to be utilizing! The Surf the Internet blue actually pops with the vegan leather-based again, although you will get it in a extra muted Gibraltar Sea shade. 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 rapidly disappearing feature. Motorola additionally contains 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 lots vivid in sunny circumstances, 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 straightforward to uninstall.
The 5,000-mAh battery in tow has ceaselessly 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 may high it again up pretty shortly 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 predominant digital camera. It takes crisp pictures in good lighting, and in low-light settings, Motorola’s Evening mode does a pleasant job of preserving particulars and shadows. The catch is it is advisable be very nonetheless—any motion and you may find yourself with a blurry shot. (I’ve a number of of these in my digital camera roll.) I feel most individuals shall be proud of the outcomes.
The issue? There’s a considerably higher cellphone for simply $100 extra: the Google Pixel 9a. Google will help that gadget 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 can purchase it on sale. Await this Moto cellphone to drop to $300 or $330.
