Because Motorola is constantly making headlines with mid-range product announcements and killer deals on many of those already reasonably priced Android mid-rangers, it's easy to forget the Lenovo-owned brand is also (increasingly) active on the global high-end scene.
Just a couple of months after the decidedly premium Edge 30 Ultra saw daylight... in certain markets, another impressive member of the Motorola Edge family is undoubtedly drawing near, as confirmed by official Chinese certification documents published with not only device depictions included but a lot of key specs as well.
An S23 Ultra rival for the whole world
Carrying model number XT2301, this is almost surely the fast-approaching regional successor to last year's Edge X30, which in turn inspired this year's Motorola Edge+ (2022) powerhouse for the US and other non-Asian markets.
In short, we're probably looking at a China-first Edge X40 here, with many of the details revealed by Tenaa likely to go unchanged for a Motorola Edge+ (2023) flagship of sorts eventually headed stateside.
The Edge X30 was first released in China and then expanded to the US under a different name.
By far the most important X40 detail is a state-of-the-art and as-yet-unreleased Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and if history is any indication, Motorola could well prove to be the world's first handset vendor to unveil and (regionally) release a phone using said next-gen SoC.
That would make the Edge X40 a direct rival to Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra beast, and although the 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution of its 6.67-inch screen doesn't seem to support that theory, said OLED display is also expected to offer 144Hz refresh rate capabilities for incredibly smooth mobile gaming.
While the overall 161.3 x 73.9 x 8.5mm device measurements and 196-gram weight are not radically different from the physical dimensions of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered Edge+ (2022), the design will apparently include at least one big change.
Motorola is again looking to balance power and affordability
Because beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you'll have to decide for yourself if the revised rear-facing camera module looks better or worse than the old vertical one. As far as the actual imaging sensors on the back of the smartphone are concerned, there's an important change in the pipeline as well, with the tertiary shooter jumping from a terribly modest 2 megapixels to a 12MP count.
The Edge X40 is also likely to come to the US... eventually under a different name.
That strongly suggests its purpose will also be altered from performing largely useless depth duties to carrying telephoto capabilities with unspecified optical zoom functionality. The primary and secondary cameras, meanwhile, will retain their 50 megapixel counts, thus snubbing the 200MP leap already made by the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra and likely to be made by the aforementioned Galaxy S23 Ultra too in just a couple of months or so.
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Motorola clearly doesn't want this bad boy to cost a small fortune, although if you'll end up opting for a top-of-the-line configuration with 512GB storage and 18GB (!!!) RAM, it's hard to think you'll have a lot of money left in the bank for Christmas shopping this year.
Of course, other variants are also in the works, offering you a choice of 128 or 256 gigs of local digital hoarding room paired with 8 and 12GB memory counts respectively, and even the battery capacity is set to vary between around 4,500 and 5,000mAh for under-screen camera and "standard" models (exclusive to China) respectively.
The resolution of said front-facing snapper is one of the few things not etched in stone just yet, alongside the phone's charging speeds (rumored at the same 68W peak as last year), and of course, the release dates and price points for China, the US, and every country in between.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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