If you’re not that into ultra-high-end phones with fittingly high price points and feel like you could be content with a well-balanced Android mid-ranger that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, the US release of the Motorola Edge (2024) is bound to put a big smile on your face.
Unveiled earlier this month with similar but not identical specifications as the “international” Edge 50 Pro, this appears to be the only new Motorola Edge handset headed stateside this year. That represents a change of regional strategy for the company behind the mid-range Edge (2023) and high-end Edge+ (2023), which no longer seems keen to take on super-premium rivals like Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra or Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, at least in America.
Priced at $549.99 in an unlocked variant with a flat 256GB storage, 8GB RAM, and a single “Midnight Blue” paint job, the Motorola Edge (2024) is officially available starting today from both its manufacturer’s US e-store and top third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.
The vegan leather back and the pronounced curves of a 6.6-inch P-OLED display with silky smooth 144Hz refresh rate capabilities are bound to jump out at you right off the bat, undeniably setting this bad boy apart from virtually all the other top contenders for the title of best budget 5G phone in the world today.
Those are obviously not the only key selling points here, with the 68W wired and 15W wireless charging speeds, for instance, trumping what the aforementioned Galaxy S24 Ultra offers in the same two departments. Then you’ve got an undoubtedly hefty 5,000mAh battery squeezed inside the razor-thin 8.1mm profile and decidedly lightweight 174-gram body of the Edge (2024), which does however only pack a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor.
That makes it very clear that you’re not dealing with a true Android flagship here, and although they certainly don’t sound bad, the 50 and 13MP cameras slapped on this thing’s super-eye-catching back are definitely not flagship material either.
All in all, we get a pretty strong feeling that the Motorola Edge (2024) will quickly follow the examples of its predecessors and go down in price in the US with no strings attached or special requirements of any sort. Until that happens, the value equation is not bad at 550 bucks, but we’re not sure if it’s truly unmissable. Not with so many other great budget-friendly devices around like Google’s new Pixel 8a mid-range soldier or the OnePlus 12R powerhouse.