Motorola Edge 50 and Edge 50 Neo hands-on review

Introduction

Today Motorola announced the most compact member of the Edge 50 family this year, the Edge 50 Neo. The debut coincided with the start of the global rollout of the vanilla Edge 50, so we had the chance to play around with both of them.

The Edge 50 Neo may be the smallest of the bunch with a 6.36-inch display, but it sits above the Edge 50 Fusion in the hierarchy. In fact, the device offers an impressive feature set not just for its size, but also for the price it commands.

Motorola Edge 50 Neo specs at a glance:

• Body: 154.1x71.2x8.1mm, 171g; Gorilla Glas 3 front, aluminum frame, silicone polymer (eco leather) back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min), MIL-STD-810H compliant*, * does not guarantee ruggedness or use in extreme conditions.
• Display: 6.36" LTPO OLED, 120Hz, HDR10+, 3000 nits (peak), 460ppi.
• Chipset: Mediatek Dimensity 7300 (4 nm): Octa-core (4x2.5 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G615 MC2.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 2.2.
• OS/Software: Android 14, up to 2 major Android upgrades.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 10 MP, f2.0, 73mm, 1.0µm, PDAF, 3x optical zoom, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚, 1.12µm, PDAF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/120fps.
• Battery: 4310mAh; 68W wired, 15W wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6e; BT 5.2; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers.

The Neo has an 120 Hz LTPO OLED panel with variable refresh rate, a proper triple-camera setup with a dedicated 3x zoom lens and fast wired and wireless charging. Plus it comes with the comfortable 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage in its base version.

In a market with ever fewer compact options the Motorola Edge 50 Neo shapes up to be an intriguing choice with its competent hardware and surprisingly aggressive price.

Motorola Edge 50 Neo

Still, the Edge 50 is large, more expensive but also more capable than the Neo. It offers a more powerful chip, a larger display with higher resolution and bigger battery.

Motorola Edge 50 specs at a glance:

• Body: 160.8x72.4x7.8mm, 180g; Glass front, aluminum frame, silicone polymer (eco leather or eco suede) back; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min), MIL-STD-810H compliant*, * does not guarantee ruggedness or use in extreme conditions.
• Display: 6.70" P-OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1600 nits (peak), 1220x2712px resolution, 20.01:9 aspect ratio, 446ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM7450-AB Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 AE (4 nm): Octa-core (1x2.5 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.36 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 644.
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 2.2.
• OS/Software: Android 14, up to 2 major Android upgrades.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 10 MP, f2.0, 73mm, 1.0µm, PDAF, 3x optical zoom, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚, 1.12µm, PDAF.
• Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.4, (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps; Front camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30/120fps.
• Battery: 5000mAh; 68W wired, 15W wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Dual SIM; Wi-Fi 6e; BT 5.2; NFC.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); stereo speakers.

Though both handsets are compliant with the MIL-STD 810H military standard and are IP68-rated against water and dust.

Make the jump to the next page for some photos, camera samples and benchmarks of the newly announced phones.