Motorola Edge 50 Pro Review: А mid-range masterpiece

One thing you definitely cannot deny about the Motorola Edge phones released in the last few years is their good looks and ergonomics. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro solidifies that statement even more, shaped true to its name, with thin edges that don’t dig into your hand and make the phone comfortable to hold and use.

Motorola has managed to make its new Edge 50 Pro slightly smaller in terms of height and girth, and it is even lighter by a few grams (although most of that is probably due to the silicone/acetate).

A design issue I personally had with the last two generations of the Motorola Edge XX Pro were their camera islands at the back, which, to me, looked uninspired and even made the phones look a bit cheap.

Not this year, though; I was happy to see how the area housing the cameras has been redesigned, and now it not only looks good but is also pretty unique. It almost looks as if the whole back of the phone has been covered with a blanket, hiding the camera island and only showing its outlines.

As for the back panel itself, similarly to previous generations, it does not only come in different color options but also different materials if you happen to get the “Special Edition.”

Here at the office we have the Luxe Lavender color variant, which is made out of vegan leather. What I really like about vegan leather as a material is that it is soft and pleasant to the touch, it doesn’t slip out of your pocket or hands as easily as glass, it does not show fingerprints, and all of that while it still allows wireless and reverse-wireless charging.

I especially enjoy how grippy the Edge 50 Pro is thanks to that leather back, as it makes me feel more confident in holding it without putting on a case.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro colors and their corresponding material:

• Luxe Lavender made from vegan leather
• Black Beauty made from vegan leather
• Moonlight Pearl (Special Edition) made from pearl acetate

Just like its predecessor, the Edge 50 Pro comes with an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, which basically means you shouldn’t worry too much about dropping it in water or using it in the rain. Just keep in mind that, as far as water is concerned, the rating has limits: fresh water to a maximum depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.



As usual, Motorola is very generous with the unboxing experience it provides to its customers. Not only do you get almost everything you might need (minus a screen protector), but you are even greeted with the scent of a nice perfume as you open the Edge 50 Pro box.

This is what you get inside the Motorola Edge 50 Pro box:

• The Motorola Edge 50 Pro
• 125W charger
• Protective case
• A USB-C to USB-C cable
• Documentation
• SIM tool

One of the most striking and immediately noticeable features of the Edge 50 Pro is its edge to edge display. Now, the debate whether flat screens are better than curved ones is a passionate one, no doubt. That said, even though most of us nowadays seem to agree flat is better, the edge display simply feels as an integral part of, well, the Motorola Edge series.

Yes, you do get reflections from light sources, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the gorgeous 1220 x 2712 pixels inside this 6.67-inch display. Watching Netflix was an enjoyable experience, mainly thanks to the HDR10+ support in combination with Pantone (one of the leading companies in color science) calibrated colors, which made the color representation a feast for my eyes.

You also get a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, which makes it absolutely satisfying to scroll and even more so when playing games that support that kind of refresh rate (especially with the 360Hz touch rate when in gaming mode). The default is set at 90Hz, though, so you have to go into settings and manually bump that up to 144Hz.

Protecting this center-piece of a display is Gorilla Glass Victus, which should do an alright job to prevent scratches. That said, it is probably still a good idea to put on a screen protector, especially with that curved display being so exposed.

I can safely say that you will enjoy anything you want to watch on the Edge 50 Pro’s display. The only issue some might find are the aforementioned light reflections you can get at the edges, but those didn’t bother or ruin my time with the phone.

Here’s a quick summary of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro camera specs:

• Main camera (wide): 50 MP, f/1.4 aperture, OIS
• Ultra-wide camera: 13 MP, f/2.2 aperture, Macro mode
• Telephoto camera: 10 MP, f/2.0 aperture, 3X optical zoom, 30X digital zoom, OIS

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro musters up some of the best photo quality I have seen from a phone of this caliber. The images are crisp, with vivid colors that, for the most part, don't appear overly saturated. Pantone's color science is also visible, as the colors are quite accurate.

As a small side note here, our unit came with the “Vivid” color setting for the display, which takes away from the accuracy of the colors. If you want the best color accuracy throughout your experience you have to go into settings and manually change to the “Natural” color setting.

A key factor in the Edge 50 Pro's camera performance is the new AI technology. This powers features like Photo Enhancement Engine and Shot Optimization.

Motorola even added Google's Photo Enhance feature to the Edge 50 Pro, which is available as a setting in the viewfinder. Google Photo Enhance automatically edits your photos to make them look more appealing, so you can see whether you prefer Google’s way of handling your shots compared to Motorola’s.

In terms of video shooting capabilities, I was a bit disappointed that you cannot shoot at 4K 60FPS with the Edge 50 Pro. Thankfully, the 4K 30FPS is one of the better ones I've seen at this price point, with great image quality and impressive stabilization even when shooting with the telephoto camera.

Now let’s take a look at some samples and see what we are dealing with here...

Dynamic range and color consistency are simply superb throughout all of the cameras on the Motorola Edge 50 Pro. I was impressed with how good the ultra-wide camera is, as this is usually the one that clearly lacks a bit in a phone's camera system.

The 3X telephoto is also really good, offering plenty of detail, and even at a 5X digital zoom objects are clear enough to make out small numbers and letters like you see on the licence plates of the cars.

The main camera's performance in low light is also impressive, delivering a well-balanced image in terms of color representation and lighting. As a bonus the camera is also quite good at avoiding light reflections.

Motorola has equipped its 2024 mid-ranger with the latest and greatest of mid-range chipsets, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (4nm). Even though this silicon is not Qualcomm’s flagship processor, it still comes with impressive performance, power-efficiency, and even the company’s AI engine.

As for raw power, the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is no slouch at all. It powered through all the features that the Edge 50 comes with, and I didn’t notice any lag or hiccups throughout my time with the phone. The only time I noticed it was a bit slow was during the AI wallpaper generation.

The chipset’s power was also very noticeable when I tried out some mobile games like Minecraft and Super Samurai Rampage, both of which are games that support 144Hz display refresh rate, which you know I had to go for. Even at that high refresh rate, I had a smooth experience.

With 12GB of super fast LPDDR4X RAM (the type usually used in flagship phones), the phone was also super snappy in day to day use, both when browsing and when using applications.

Performance Benchmarks:

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 might be the latest and greatest from the mid-range chipsets, but you can clearly see its different status next to the 2-year old flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor in these benchmark results. Still, in real life, the difference is not as noticeable as it appears here.

Unfortunately, even though the Edge 50 comes with lots of storage, 512GB to be exact, it is not the fastest out there. We are talking UFS 2.2 storage, which is one or two generations older then what is currently used in most mid-range and flagship phones. What this means is that larger files and applications load longer, it is also less powerf-efficient than the UFS 3.0 and 4.0 storage types, but none of this is a deal breaker in my book.

The battery capacity is 4,500 mAh, which is not the 5,000 mAh we got with the Edge 40 Pro last year, but was still plenty to last me a full day of use. That included using the camera a ton, albeit mostly for photos (but also some videos), browsing online, and gaming for about an hour or two. At the end of the day I was left with about 20-30% of battery.

As you can see from our battery life estimate above, the Edge 50 Pro will still have some juice left in the tank even after a day of somewhat heavy use. That said, it is a bit behind in this segment compared to some of the competition.

PhoneArena Battery Test Results:

When it comes to gaming and video streaming in particular, the Edge 50 Pro will last longer than some of its main competition like the Galaxy S23 FE.

PhoneArena Charging Test Results:

The good news is that even if you forget to charge the Edge 50 Pro at the end of the day, you can juice it up in no time with that 125W charger that comes inside the box, which is the same wattage the phone supports.

Do you have a 50W wireless charger lying around? Well, you can use that to its full potential, as the Edge 50 Pro maxes out at 50W wireless charging too. You can even use reverse wireless charging with a maximum speed of 10W, so it is perfect for charging the new Moto Buds+ that were announced alongside the Edge 50 series.

While haptic feedback is rather mediocre on the Edge 50 Pro—feeling a bit mushy—the audio quality is great, which paired up neatly with the stellar display quality. YouTube sessions before going to bed sounded rich and satisfying, and although not the best out there, I was also okay with listening to a few tracks while getting ready in the morning thanks to the high volume.

The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is a great phone and, given the user experience and specs, what you get matches well to the €699 price tag. This is about what you can expect from a high-tier mid-range phone in 2024.

The only major issue we have with the Edge 50 Pro is that it comes with only 3 years of Android updates. Most phone manufacturers now offer at least 4 years, which is what the Galaxy S23 FE from Samsung comes with.

Speaking of the Galaxy S23 FE, it is probably the best competition to the Edge 50 Pro, with a chipset that is even more capable (despite being two generations old by now), also rocking a triple camera system at the back, and the ability to shoot at 4K 60fps. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 inside the Motorola, however, prevails in many gaming-related cases. Also, there’s the 125W wired and 50W wireless charging with the Edge 50 Pro vs the 25/15W on the Galaxy.

Another possible alternative can be the upcoming Pixel 8a from Google, although we can’t say for sure how that one will compare until it actually gets announced, at the very least.

Alternatives aside, you won’t go wrong with the Motorola Edge 50 Pro, and we are pretty confident that most users will be left happy with their purchase, as the phone offers almost everything you would need from a handset of its class.