Motorola Edge 40 Pro review

Design, build quality, handling

With the release of the Edge 30 Ultra last year, Motorola marked a return to common sense in naming convention - after a couple of flat-screen Edges, the 2022 Ultra brought back the curved display. The Edge 40 Pro now doubles down on that and features rounded edges along the sides and its entire perimeter - top and bottom too.

Technically, it's only the side edges of the display that are curved - the top and bottom roundover is only courtesy of the Gorilla Glass Victus protective layer. But the end result is still a very nicely uniform curvature that looks premium and makes you feel special when handling the phone.

The rear of the phone is curved to match the front's shapes, and the lack of sharp, well, edges or corners means it doesn't poke into your palm at all.

Normally, fully symmetrical designs would mean no tactile clues as to which way a handset is facing when you're picking it up from somewhere, or you're pulling it out of your pocket (if for any reason you don't religiously insert it the same way every single time), but the Edge 40 Pro solves that potential annoyance by having a different treatment on its rear panel.

Another Gorilla Glass Victus sheet, this one has a frosted finish that glitters in the sun. It doesn't pick up fingerprints, which is great, but it's as slippery as they come, which is not as great - but that's the usual trade-off. Your fingers can readily tell which surface they're touching, so that's a win.

The Edge 40 Pro is available in one of two colorways - the Interstellar Black of our review unit, and Lunar Blue. Black or Blue, either one has the same shimmery finish, with only a glossy bat logo in the middle, adding a splash of contrast.

Well, there's also the camera island, itself styled to mimic the phone's curves. Motorola found enough room inside this relatively compact box for all three imaging modules, plus a dual-LED flash.

The slim aluminum rails on the sides of the Edge 40 Pro are the only logical outcome of the whole curved aesthetic - there's not a lot of meat left on the sides when both the front and the rear panels are rounded over. The lack of material doesn't help when picking the Edge 40 Pro up from a flat surface, but it's hardly an actual issue.

The exposed aluminum bits go thicker on the top and bottom to accommodate some features. There's a speaker grille on each end of the handset, with a Dolby Atmos badge up top to remind you you've got nice speakers (or to make you think that). A mic pinhole can also be spotted on each end.

Down on the bottom, you'll find the USB-C port and the card slot, which takes a single nano SIM. Dual SIM connectivity is possible, though the second one will need to be an eSIM.

It may not be a flashy color, but there is a gasket on the card tray to prevent dust and water from entering the Edge 40 Pro - it is IP68-rated, so it should survive submersion down to 1.5m for as long as 30 minutes.

Top • Bottom • SIM tray

A third mic can be found on the right side of the handset, around the very middle of the phone - an unusual location for a microphone. Motorola says there should be a total of four, but we couldn't spot the last one.

Also on the right are the physical controls of the Edge 40 Pro - a power button and two discrete volume buttons - all clicking positively.

It's a been a while since someone's dropped a screen to body ratio figure, but Motorola is apparently so proud of what they've done with the Edge 40 Pro that they're quoting a 89.6% number and calling it AA-TP, or Active Area-Touch Panel. It is pretty efficient in its use of frontal area, no doubt about that.

With that in mind, perhaps they were pressed for space on the inside somehow, because that's how we'd best rationalize the rather low fingerprint reader placement. The optical sensor works as well as the next one, only it requires a bit or muscle memory adjustment to adapt to its position, if you're coming from a Pixel or a Galaxy. Even the onscreen clues for registering a fingerprint admit it would be better higher up.

The Edge 40 Pro measures 161.2x74x8.6mm, which is about as wide as a OnePlus 11, but some 2-2.5mm narrower than either a Pixel 7 Pro or a Galaxy S23+. So it's objectively relatively compact compared to potential rivals, plus the liberal use of curves makes it feel even more svelte. It's not thin, but even though the Galaxy may be a full millimeter thinner, its nearly flat sides make it feel chunkier. All in all, as full-size high-end phones go, the Edge 40 Pro does a finer job of masking its bulk than most.