For many people, a mid-range phone is the sweet spot. It’s cheap enough to be affordable, even when buying outright, yet expensive enough to still feel and perform like a premium device.
When deciding which to buy, a few devices spring to mind immediately. There’s the recently launched Pixel 9a from Google and Samsung’s Galaxy A56 on the Android side, and of course, the iPhone 16e.
However, one brand you might not have considered is Motorola. And while the company is known for its Razr flip phones, you shouldn’t ignore its regular non-folding device.
With the new Edge 60 Pro, Motorola has a genuine contender to be one of the best mid-range phones around. On paper, it offers everything most people look for in a smartphone. Hands-on time with the device is just as encouraging, though I have one major concern, which could be a dealbreaker.
What a looker
For a while now, Motorola phones have been known for their attractive designs, and the Edge 60 Pro is no different. Drawing on an ongoing partnership with colour experts Pantone, the phone is available in three eye-catching finishes: a vegan leather ‘Shadow’, a nylon-esque ‘Dazzling Blue’ and ‘Sparkling Grape’, my personal favourite.
Motorola
I love the attention to detail Motorola puts into design, even on its cheaper phones. The Edge 60 Pro feels impressively robust, combining tough Corning Gorilla Glass 7i with military-grade MIL-STD-810 durability.
Elsewhere, flagship-level IP68 and IP69 water and dust resistance mean it’s rated to survive both submersion in water and high-pressure jets. Alongside a grippy back, it’s one of the few phones I’d feel comfortable using case-free.
Screen fiend
The Edge 60 Pro might be a mid-range phone, but you wouldn’t know it from the display. This 6.7-inch pOLED was a joy to use in my short time with the device, offering the crisp, vibrant viewing experience we expect from Motorola.
And despite technically being a small downgrade, the 120Hz refresh rate ensures scrolling and switching between apps still feels impressively smooth and premium.
Motorola
While I didn’t get to properly test this, Motorola claims the peak brightness has more than doubled, going from 2000 nits on the Edge 50 Pro to 4500 nits here. It probably goes without saying, but visibility in basically any lighting conditions should be excellent.
Many mid-range phones have impressive displays, so the Edge 60 Pro doesn’t necessarily stand out from the crowd. But regardless of what you plan to use it for, it won’t let you down.
Don’t worry about the chipset change
As someone who tests phones for a living, it can be easy to read too much into a list of specs. But despite the Edge 60 Pro ditching a Qualcomm chip in favour of MediaTek’s Dimensity 8350 Extreme, I wasn’t too concerned. MediaTek processors have come a long way in recent years, and now often match or even surpass their Qualcomm equivalents.
While a few minutes of hands-on time isn’t necessarily a representative test, I have no worries about the Edge 60 Pro’s performance. It blazed through all the apps and multitasking scenarios I could throw at it without any issues whatsoever. The only tasks I could imagine causing issues would be demanding apps such as AAA gaming, but everything else feels within reach.
It blazed through all the apps and multitasking scenarios I could throw at it
Slick software
Motorola is known for its light-touch approach to software, and that continues here.
The Edge 60 Pro’s version of Android 15 is similar to what you’ll find on Pixel phones, down to the inclusion of Google Photos as the primary gallery app. As expected, the software experience is clean and slick, plus largely free from annoying bloatware.
However, it’s AI features where Motorola is trying to differentiate itself. A dedicated AI Key on the left side of the phone offers easy access to a range of tools designed to streamline and simplify the experience.
These include existing ones such as Catch Me Up (summarises missed calls and notifications), Pay Attention (starts audio recording and transcription) and Remember This (capture and store photos, screenshots and other information). But the addition of a new context-aware Next Move feature allows it to offer smart suggestions based on what’s on your screen, including further research via a partnership with Perplexity AI.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Alongside a new Playlist Studio tool for bespoke music recommendations and improvements to the Gen AI-powered Image Studio, the Edge 60 Pro has a comprehensive suite of AI features. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but a lot of potentially useful stuff at your fingertips..
Bumper battery life
It’s not something I’ve been able to properly test yet, but I couldn’t not talk about the massive battery upgrades on the Edge 60 Pro.
Its predecessor, the Edge 50 Pro, had a fairly unremarkable 4500mAh cell, so Motorola has replaced it with a bumper 6000mAh one here. While it hasn’t made any specific battery life claims, a 33% increase in capacity should yield a big boost.
Motorola
However, charging speeds have been scaled back slightly. The Edge 50 Pro’s ridiculously fast 125W wired charging might be gone, but the 90W version in its place isn’t exactly slow – Motorola claims you can get a full day of usage from just six minutes plugged in!
If you prefer the wireless route, though, you’ll have to drop all the way down to 15W, which is a little disappointing.
Can the cameras actually compete?
Aside from slightly limited software support, my hands-on time suggests Motorola can mix it with the big names in the mid-range phone market.
However, the cameras are still a big question mark for me. On paper, the 50Mp Sony Lytia sensor sounds good, but I’m not convinced Motorola’s software processing can quite match Google, Apple or Samsung.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
And while the ultrawide has had a nice boost to 50Mp and offers the flexibility of a 120-degree field of view, the 3x telephoto remains at just 10Mp. I don’t know if that’s enough for the Edge 60 Pro to become a top mid-range camera phone, which will be necessary to tempt people away from rivals.
A few quick shots in the hands-on area looked decent, but it’s hard to draw any conclusions without extended real-world testing.
Priced at €599.99 in Europe, the Edge 50 Pro represents good value for money, at least based on initial impressions. But will the camera end up being a dealbreaker when considering the fiercely competitive mid-range market? Time will tell.
Motorola hosted my trip to New York. I accepted, as there were no alternative ways to get hands-on time with the Razr 60 Pro at launch. There were no preconditions on what I write or how I evaluate the device.
