The Best Motorola Phones (2025), Tested and Reviewed

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 cell firms on the 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.When you’re an purchaser, choosing one of the best Motorola telephone will be powerful as a result of the corporate launches many fashions annually. 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 Extremely to the Moto G Stylus 2025.Try our cell shopping for guides for extra, together with the Finest Android Telephones, Finest Samsung Telephones, Finest Low cost Telephones, Finest Pixel Telephones, and Finest Telephones With a Headphone Jack.Desk of ContentsAccordionItemContainerButtonUpdated June 2025: We have added the Motorola Edge 2025.What’s WIRED About Motorola Telephones?AccordionItemContainerButtonPhotograph: Julian ChokkattuMotorola telephones have a easy Android interface. This implies the corporate hasn’t finished 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 nearly all of it.They arrive with plenty of storage. The corporate stuffs 256 GB as commonplace into most of its smartphones, even a few of the low cost fashions. Most Android flagship gadgets nonetheless include simply 128 GB. Motorola can be one of many solely telephone manufacturers to nonetheless embrace a microSD card slot to increase storage on lots of its gadgets, and the Moto G telephones retain the headphone jack.There’s broad provider assist. Whereas some Android telephone manufacturers have inconsistent provider assist within the US, like Nothing, Motorola telephones typically work on most if not all networks (the corporate lists provider assist particulars within the Specs part of all its telephones). All of them work on the massive three—T-Cell, AT&T, and Verizon. Be sure to purchase them unlocked.The costs dip very often. By no means purchase a Motorola telephone at its MSRP. They nearly all the time go on sale just a few months (or weeks) after launch, generally at steep reductions.What’s TIRED About Motorola Telephones?AccordionItemContainerButtonMotorola’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 telephone is promised updates, they take a very long 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 fantastic 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 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 telephone or faucet the display to see something. It’s not an enormous deal, nevertheless it’s a characteristic you may miss should you’re coming from one other telephone. Newer Razr gadgets lastly broke the mould with always-on shows, nevertheless it’s nonetheless not current within the firm’s different merchandise.The Finest Motorola PhonePhotograph: Julian ChokkattuMotorolaRazr Extremely (2025)The Razr Extremely (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is one of the best purpose to get a Motorola telephone over the likes of Samsung, Apple, and Google. It is a assertion piece, not simply because it is a compact folding flip telephone, however as a result of Motorola affords 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 Pink, a leather-inspired end; and Cabaret, which looks like satin. You may be laborious pressed to discover a telephone that appears this trendy 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 continuously open the telephone. When you do, you are handled to a big 7-inch AMOLED show that is sharp, shiny, and clean because of the 165-Hz refresh fee. 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 via and thru (which explains the excessive worth), from 512 GB of inner storage to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset powering all of it. Efficiency is just not 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 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.Razr Extremely (left) within the Mountain Path wooden design. Razr 2025 (proper) within the Spring Bud leather-inspired look.
{Photograph}: Julian ChokkattuThe cameras are a pleasant enchancment—you may get fairly nice photographs from the 50-megapixel main digital camera and the 50-megapixel ultrawide. You must keep nonetheless in low gentle, particularly since Motorola confusingly hides the Evening mode perform within the “Extra” tab of the digital camera app. (It does not routinely kick in in low gentle.) One of the best half is that you should utilize the superior main cameras—usually on the “again” of the telephone, however are actually 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 a lot better on the Extremely than on another Motorola telephone. 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 digital camera outcomes, whether or not in photograph or video, nonetheless do not fairly match the competitors at this worth, however that is nonetheless Motorola’s greatest digital camera system up to now.The software program expertise is nice, apart from all the factitious 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 never discovered Moto AI too useful. One of the best perk is Pay Consideration, which makes the telephone begin recording with real-time transcriptions—helpful 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 all the time, I like to recommend ready for an enormous sale occasion, as Motorola telephones are ceaselessly discounted. The Razr Extremely is the most costly Razr up to now, however I believe it will be an incredible 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 trendy than another smartphone on the market, and you will really feel tremendous happy ending a telephone name with a flip.The Finest Low cost Folding PhonePhotograph: Julian ChokkattuYou needn’t spend $1,300 to get a great folding flip telephone. 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 will nonetheless stutter right here and there, however that is not a defining side of this telephone 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 shiny, even when they’re barely smaller.Cameras are its weak level in comparison with the Extremely. You may get some good photographs, however they will 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 worth for a folding smartphone, it is an unimaginable worth, whereas nonetheless managing to look attractive.Finest Moto G PhonePhotograph: Julian ChokkattuMotorolaMoto G Stylus 2025The Moto G Stylus 2025 is one of the best Moto G telephone proper now, which is perhaps a given contemplating it is the priciest mannequin within the household. Nonetheless, for $400, it is probably the greatest smartphone values available on the market. Because the title suggests, it comes with a built-in stylus—the one different telephone with that characteristic is Samsung’s $1,300 Galaxy S25 Extremely.It is a slim and fantastically blue telephone. My mother stated it seemed good. Even a stranger stopped me to ask what telephone I used to be utilizing! The Surf the Internet 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 right this moment’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 loads shiny 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 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 ceaselessly lasted a full day for me with roughly 35 p.c left by bedtime, with common to excessive use. It is not fairly a two-day telephone. You’ll be able to high 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 digital camera. 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 want to be very nonetheless—any motion and you will find yourself with a blurry shot. (I’ve just a few of these in my digital camera roll.) I believe most individuals might be proud of the outcomes.The issue? There’s a considerably higher telephone 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 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. Look forward to this Moto telephone to drop to $300 or $330.