Motorola Edge 50 Ultra review

The competition

The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is priced at €999 for its 1TB version. You get a unique and sturdy design, a premium OLED with 144Hz refresh, a flagship-grade chip, superb speakers, impressively fast charging speed, top-notch photo quality, and a smooth, vanilla Android OS. However, this kind of money can get you most of the top Androids at the moment.

If you are considering getting the Edge 50 Ultra, the first market alternative to take into account is Motorola's own Edge 50 Pro, which is at least €300 cheaper than the Ultra. There is no wooden version here, but you can still get the same eco-leather back, the same OLED screen, a rather similar performance, speakers, and even battery life. It's just that this Moto has less advanced zoom and ultrawide cameras, and a smaller sensor for the main shooter.

The Poco F6 has a similar display and the same chipset, but it offers far inferior cameras across the board, and there is no optical zoom. But its 512GB version is priced at €499, which is half of what Motorola is asking. The Poco F6 Pro is also a very good proposition, offering excellent photo quality and charging speed but lacking a zoom camera.

The Galaxy S24+ has a better OLED screen of higher resolution and brightness, there is a more powerful chipset, and an equally good camera kit and quality. The charging speed is lower here, and you get 512GB storage instead of 1TB at that price. You could also go for the 256GB version of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which can already be found for around 1000 euros, too.

Finally, the Xiaomi 14 is about €150 or cheaper, and it has an even better specc'd screen, the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and superb camera quality. However, the Xiaomi 14 doesn't feel as comfortable to hold and use as the Edge 50 Ultra despite its smaller screen.

Motorola Edge 50 Pro • Xiaomi Poco F6 • Samsung Galaxy S24+ • Xiaomi 14

Our verdict

The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is a powerful smartphone and one that is incredibly easy to like. Be it wooden or eco-leather, the Edge 50 Ultra's exterior is a showstopper, and it may seal the deal for many.

Then we have a superb 144Hz OLED, a powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, impressive speakers, amazing photo quality, long battery life, and 125W fast charging.

Not everything is peachy, of course. The phone does throttle and heats up fast, and let's not forget the largely unimpressive video recording quality.

But that's about it - everything else is in the class-leading ballpark - design, screen, battery life, charging speed, speakers, performance, photo quality. Once the price drops, it will certainly merit closer consideration.

Pros

• Standout design.
• Excellent screen.
• Long battery life, super-fast charging.
• Superb speakers.
• Great photo quality.
• Great performance.
• Vanilla Android OS with a competitive set of extra features.

Cons

• Throttles and heats up considerably under prolonged loads.
• Video recording quality is mediocre.