Motorola could be 2025's US mid-range champion if it gets just a few things right

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Motorola Edge (2024)
Are you in the market for a nice and well-rounded Android mid-ranger with a nice and reasonable price point and a nice decidedly premium design? If I were you, I'd wait a couple more months before making a buying decision.

That's because Motorola is hard at work on a number of very interesting Edge-branded smartphones, and if history (and common sense) are any indication, at least one of these will be commercially released stateside too in the relatively near future. A key player in the US mobile industry for many years now, the Lenovo-owned company has the chance to truly make a splash in 2025, but for that to happen, a few important conditions need to be met.

The Motorola Edge (2025) has to be ultra-affordable right off the bat


If you're a US-based bargain hunter, you're probably very familiar with the Motorola Edge (2024). Maybe even too familiar. That's because the 6.6-inch mid-end handset made its regional commercial debut around nine months ago at a recommended price of $550 only to score hefty discount after discount in the time since.


It has become practically impossible to actually see the Edge (2024) sell for $550 or anything close to that mark in recent months, with the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola's official US e-store instead frequently listing the unlocked phone at $350, $300, and even less with absolutely no strings attached.

But here's the thing: it feels a little late now to sell a product with the year 2024 in its name in droves. After all, we all know a Motorola Edge (2025) is coming soon, and it's only a matter of time until that one will cost $400 or less. But here's a crazy idea - why not launch the Edge (2025) at $400 and keep the price point unchanged a bit longer?

That way, Motorola can secure a lot more consumer interest around its next big US mid-ranger, positioning it as a direct rival for the Samsung Galaxy A36 5G right off the bat. Now, I'm not entirely sure exactly how the Edge (2025) will look, but based on what I know about the "international" Edge 60, Edge 60 Pro, and Edge 60 Fusion, I believe I can safely say there's a roughly 99 percent chance that Motorola will bring something better than the Galaxy A36 stateside in the next couple of months. Which actually brings me to my second point...

Enough with the brand confusion!


Did you know that the Motorola Edge (2024), Edge 50, Edge 50 Pro, Edge 50 Ultra, and Edge 50 Fusion are all different products? I don't just mean that they're made for different markets, mind you, with each model distinguishing itself from the rest of the family in one or several departments like screen size, camera capabilities, battery capacity, or processor make and model.


That's simply ridiculous and it needs to stop ASAP! Unfortunately, Motorola is once again preparing to release at least four distinct Edge 60 variants, including one with a built-in stylus. For what it's worth, I haven't heard any rumors on a US-specific Edge (2025), which makes me (cautiously) confident that one of the "regular" Edge 60, Edge 60 Pro, and Edge 60 Fusion will arrive stateside under that label.

If it's the Edge 60, the wish I expressed earlier could well come true, as a report from just a couple of days ago points to a potential €400 starting price in Europe for that particular model. While €400 technically converts to a little over $430, that's not typically how these things change from market to market. Instead, the same Edge 60 variant with 256GB storage and 8GB RAM could be released in the US at $400 or even $350.

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The Edge 60 Fusion, meanwhile, is expected to cost 26,000 rupees in India, which is even better, equating to around $300. Of course, that tends to be a more budget-friendly market than the US, but a $350 or $400 price tag would still be possible for a Fusion rebranded as a simple Motorola Edge (2025).

Either way, Motorola definitely has to streamline its product portfolio to make it clear exactly what you're buying. The Razr and Razr Plus duo is pretty easy to understand, so why can't the Edge family adopt a similar branding strategy? 

Software is as important as hardware


Look, I'm clearly as excited as the next guy to potentially see the undeniably gorgeous and surprisingly robust Edge 60 Fusion released stateside, but Motorola must pair its beautiful and powerful hardware with better software and especially better long-term software support promises.


One of the key reasons why our Motorola Edge (2024) review deemed that very promising mid-ranger a "safe and boring update" was the company's sub-par two-year OS upgrade policy, and if the Motorola Edge (2025) doesn't miraculously jump to a four-year pledge (at the very least), the phone will have a really hard time competing against the aforementioned Samsung Galaxy A36 and Google's Pixel 9a.

Luckily for Motorola, the Pixel 9a is delayed and the Galaxy A36 looks... boring and overpriced, so the battle for this year's mid-range crown is still on.

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