The best Motorola phones don't get the most media coverage, especially when compared to the best iPhones or the best Samsung phones. But they often offer better value for money and are very much worth considering if you need a camera phone.
In general, the brand is commonly associated with budget camera phones. But it has some great high-end and mid-range models too, such as the Moto G200 and the Moto G82 5G.
Below, we'll help you pick the best Motorola phone for your needs. Choosing between them depends on what's most important to you and your budget. For example, do you need a large screen, or will a smaller one do? Is 5G important, or are you happy with 4G? Will you be using your phone for pro photography, or just the odd snap?
Whatever your answers, you should find the right choice for you in our roundup of the best Motorola phones. Read on, as we give you all the facts and figures you need to make your decision.
Best Motorola phones in 2024
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The Edge 30 Ultra is the best phone we’ve seen from Motorola in ages. It’s a fantastic-looking, powerful, fully-featured handset with a great camera system. The headline feature is the record-breaking 200-megapixel main camera, but this is ably supported with an impressive 50MP wide lens and a 12MP tele option. Plus around the front is a high-quality 60MP selfie camera. Unfortunately, Motorola’s default image processing seemed a bit heavy-handed in our testing - so we recommend using with a third-party camera app to get the very best from this beast of a smartphone. See our full Motorola Edge 30 Ultra review.
Released in November 2021, the Moto G200 is a high-end phone with premium features including a great display, a fast processor and an excellent three-camera setup.
The main camera, a super-high res 108MP f/1.9 sensor, is accompanied by a 13 MP, f/2.2 ultrawide lens and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor, and you can capture 4K video at 30fps. On the front there's a 16MP f/2.2 camera that supports 1080p video.
Running Android 11, the Snapdragon 888 processor makes it fast and responsive, and a great choice for resource-heavy tasks like gaming or editing photos on the move. Its 6.8-inch LCD screen boasts a 144Hz refresh rate (again great for gaming), HDR10 and a high resolution of 1080 x 2460 pixels. And there's a generous 5,000mAh battery, which promises up to 36 hours on a single charge.
In short, this is a great choice if you're seeking a high-end smartphone at a price to match, particularly if you're looking for a large screen and decent cameras.
Released in June 2022, the Moto G82 5G is the most recent on our list, and another solid, premium smartphone from Motorola with 5G support.
We particularly like that it offers expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 1024GB, has a more recent OS version (Android 12 rather than 11) and includes an audio jack port. But really, it's the screen that's the star here: an AMOLED display that's superior to the G200's TFT LCD, with a 120Hz refresh rate, premium color accuracy (using 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut), and 15% higher peak brightness.
On the downside, the camera's not quite as good as the first two models on our list (with 'only' a 50MP main sensor), and overall it's a slightly slower performer. But if the screen's your priority, that may be a compromise worth making.
The Motorola Edge Plus is another premium phone with specs that are up there with the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy ranges, including 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and a long-lasting 5,000mAh battery.
The high-res, curved OLED display has a a 90Hz maximum refresh rate, which makes for sharp and clear images. And it’s a great choice for photography too, with a quad-lens rear camera boasting a 108MP main sensor, an 8MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom, and a 16MP ultra-wide sensor.
The Motorola Edge Plus also comes with a fingerprint sensor, supports 5G, and has a stylish design that befits its premium price. In short, while this is one of the more expensive models on our list, you’re certainly getting value for money.
Released in July 2021, the Motorola Defy is designed to be rugged, so it's a great choice for taking on shoots in the great outdoors, as well as for people who are routinely clumsy. It's engineered to withstand the impact of repeated drops on any side or corner, and is drop proof up to 1.8m. It's also fully waterproof up to 1.5m for 35 minutes.
There's a big battery too, to keep you going while you're away from a power socket. And the camera setup, made up of a 48MP main sensor, 2MP depth sensor and 2MP macro sensor, is very capable.
On the negative side it doesn't have the fastest processor, hence the decision to launch with Android 10 rather than 11. But if ruggedness is your main concern, that's probably a compromise you're willing to make. See our guide to the best rugged phones.
Despite being released in 2019, the Motorola One Zoom still offers an impressive camera: a quad-core rear lens, featuring a 48MP main sensor; a 16MP ultrawide; an 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 5MP depth sensor. There’s also a very capable 25MP front camera.
Yes, this is an older model, but if you can find one for a low price, it might well provide everything you need, for much less than the pricier recommendations on our list. For more details, read our full Motorola One Zoom review.
Keeping to a strict budget? Then the G10 is the best Motorola phone you can buy today for a rock-bottom price.
For a cheap phone, it sports quite a stylish design. Its 6.5-inch screen is a decent size, and it comes with a quad-lens on the rear (48MP wide + 8MP ultra-wide + 2MP macro + 2MP depth sensor). Admittedly, the overall image quality isn’t the greatest, especially in poor light, but it’s certainly good enough for quick shots for sharing with friends or on social media.
This phone is not the fastest performer, and on the whole you're getting a lower-powered device than others on this list, with fewer features. But it's still quite an impressive smartphone for such a low, low price.
If you’re primarily interested in video capture, and want to keep to a budget, then the Motorola One Action has a lot to offer.
Specifically, its triple lens camera features a 16MP sensor that’s dedicated to shooting video. Stablisation technology works to smooth out bumps and slips while you’re filming. And, brilliantly, you can film in landscape orientation while holding your phone in portrait; a much more natural way to film. Plus, when it comes to playback, the high-res screen boasts a 21:9 aspect ratio, so you can view your footage in all its widescreen glory.
Video aside, this is a very capable phone too for such an affordable price. Features include a fingerprint sensor, IPX2 water resistance, and 128GB storage, expandable via MicroSD.
Want a more powerful phone than the G10, but willing to spend only a little more money? Then the G30 is your best bet.
Running Android 11, its processing speeds are faster, and the battery life is impressive. The 6.5 inch screen comes with a fairly low resolution of 720 x 1600, but that’s mitigated in part by the 90Hz refresh rate, which makes for smoother scrolling, motion and video. The cameras are decent enough, too, with a rear camera offering four lenses (64MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro and 2MP sensors), along with a 13MP selfie camera on the front.
In short, if you’re looking for a basic phone with long battery life and good on-board storage, this is a great value buy.
In case we’ve given the impression Motorola only cares about budget phones, here's a device that’s at the opposite end of the scale. The RAZR 2002 will cost you top dollar, and to be honest, you can get better phones from other brands for the same price. However, its foldable nature is a lot of fun - and the latest in the RAZR family offers some serious improvements of other the previous RAZR 5G.
There is a 50MP rear camera - plus a 13MP wideangle with a 120° field of view. And it can record 8K at 30fps, and 4K at 60fps. The phone is available in Europe and Asia, but is hard to find in North America.
On a budget, but want to access 5G? Then the Motorola Moto G50 5G lets you do just that, at a surprisingly low cost.
Beyond that, you get decent enough (if not wow-factor) images from the the rear camera, which features a 48MP main sensor, 5MP macro sensor, and 2MP depth sensor. There’s also a solid 13MP front camera, and you can shoot 1080p video, either at 30fps or 60fps. There’s good battery life from the 5,000mAh battery, too, as well as quick fast 15W charging.
In other ways, this is quite a basic, if solid and dependable, phone. But if you need 5G, then this is the cheapest Motorola phone in town.
As the name might suggest, this device offers the best battery life of any Motorola phone on this list, thanks to its high-powered 6,000mAh battery. Depending what you use it for, it should be good for around one to two days’ use. It supports fast 20W charging too.
Don't get too excited: this is a budget phone (and it looks like one), with very standard specs: 720p screen resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, 4GB RAM. And consequently performance is relatively slow and unexciting compared with a more expensive phone. But if you want to keep costs low, and your main priority is long battery life, that may be a compromise you’re happy to make.
One good thing about Motorola offering such a wide range of phones is that there’s something for everyone in its line-up. For example, if you like using a stylus with your smartphone, then you’ll be well served by the Moto G Stylus 5G, known as the Moto G Pro outside the USA.
It’s a little pricier than most of the previous budget models on our list. But for the extra cash you get a metal stylus, with a plastic cap, which slots nicely into the phone so you’re less likely to use it. It’s not pressure sensitive, so you wouldn’t want to use it for drawing or sketching, but for quick and easy notetaking it works well.
This phone also boasts excellent speakers, 128GB of internal storage, and support for HDR. Plus the camera comes with a quite capable (if not spectacular) night vision mode. In short, while this is generally a fairly standard budget phone, the extra features do justify the slightly higher price.
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