Moto G Play 2024 is here: more modern design, new main camera, and higher performance

What's that? A new Moto G Play? Yes, as is tradition, Motorola is starting the year with a new version of its popular budget Moto G Play series. The new Moto G Play 2024 is official, and it is even a little more affordable than its predecessor!

All you need to know about the Motorola Moto G Play 2024

You might think that since Motorola has managed to reduce the price tag then the phone must not offer anything too exciting as an upgrade, but you would be wrong. Well, nothing is "too exciting" per se in this price range, but there are indeed a few changes that are meaningful here.

• New design befitting of 2024: For starters, we can safely say that the design has finally earned the right to be called "modern" with the new Moto G Play 2024 looking clean and, dare we say, stylish. As you will be able to see from the design photos below, there is a matte finish to the phone's back panel and frame, with the edge under a slight angle for added comfort.

And you do need that added comfort because we are talking about a hefty body that measures 163.82 x 74.96 x 8.29mm. Since it's made out of plastic, however, the Moto G Play 2024 edition remains light for its size, coming in at 185g.

Just keep in mind that the bezels are quite thick, especially the lower one, which almost looks like a chin. That said, we are talking about a phone that costs just $149.99, so we can't really be mad at or surprised by this.

• New, 50MP main camera: The main camera has jumped from 16MP to 50MP, so we expect more from it compared to the predecessor. It is always a pleasant surprise to see that the rather useless macro and depth cameras are now gone, which further helps with the clean look and, we assume, the slightly lower cost.

The selfie camera has also been improved and is now 8MP instead of 5MP.

• A new chipset: Last but not least, we have a new chipset. This time Motorola has opted for Qualcomm silicon, placing the Snapdragon 680 4G, which is marginally better than the MediaTek Helio G37, powering the Moto G Play from 2023. We are talking 6nm instead of 12nm, support for more RAM, and significantly higher gaming and CPU performance.

In more practical terms, this chip should allow the Moto G Play 2024 to handle games like PUBG Mobile at Medium settings with a smooth frame rate. Don't go hoping for games like Genshin Impact or Fortnite though.

Hopefully, this new chipset elevates some of the lag issues we encountered with the Moto G Play 2023 during our review.

• Faster charging (kind of): Thankfully, Motorola has bumped up the charging speeds from 10W to 15W, which is a bit more acceptable.

• The bad and the ugly: Unfortunately, just like its predecessor, the Motorola G Play 2024 does not come with the latest Android update (Android 14), and instead comes with Android 13. What's more, as you might have already deduced from the chip's name, you don't get 5G connectivity with the new Moto G Play, which can be a deal breaker in 2024.

Some other downsides include the added charger, which comes inside the Moto G Play's box. Now, you might think to yourself: "How can this be a bad thing?," and usually you would be right to ask that question, but in this case, not so much. While the new Moto G Play is capable of 15W wired charging, the charger inside its box is only 10W, which almost feels like an insult.

Then there is the display, capable of a 90Hz refresh rate. Great! But by the looks of this spec sheet, we are left with the impression that it is the same display as the previous generation, which would mean low brightness and inaccurate colors.

Also check out: