Motorola Signature 27 is here: extreme power, a silicon-carbon battery and the first EVS camera on a phone!

The Motorola Signature 27 will be sold universally unlocked for $1,599.99 MSRP at only one configuration: 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Pre-orders open on November 19 at Motorola.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com with no US carriers listed.

Motorola first unveiled the phone at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit back in September, but didn't reveal its price or full specs until today. This is the first Motorola Signature to be available for purchase directly in the US.

It is among the first phones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip and runs Android 17 out of the box with 7 operating system upgrades and up to 7 years of security updates. This is important because long support helps justify the price tag on this phone.

A 200MP periscope camera and action sensor

The Motorola Signature 27 will feature a 200MP periscope lens and the first EVS action sensor on a phone. These make up part of the below list of sensors for this camera setup:

• 50MP Sony LYTIA L910 main lens: f/1.6, 3.5° OIS, LOFIC for steadier video in tricky light such as at concerts or neon lights.
• 200MP periscope lens: has 3x optical zoom and up to 100x Super Zoom Pro (AI-assisted).
• 50MP ultrawide: has a 122° field of view and saves photos at 12.5MP.
• 50MP front camera: records 4K video.

In contrast, Samsung puts the Galaxy S26 Ultra's 200MP sensor on the main camera with a 50MP 5x periscope, while Motorola puts 200MP on the zoom instead.

In the launch announcement, Motorola touts having the first dedicated Event Vision Sensor (EVS) on a phone, paired with Action Shot. A normal camera captures whole frames on a fixed timer, whereas EVS pixels each work alone and only send data when their brightness changes, timing down to about a microsecond.

The phone then mixes that motion data with the main camera to freeze fast movement. The result should be sharper photos of kids, pets and sports without motion blur.

As far as video, we're talking 8K 30fps on the main camera, 4K 60fps elsewhere. It is also equipped with 4K 120fps slow motion, can record in Dolby Vision and has an AI video enhancement engine.

An Extreme AMOLED Duo display and a large battery to go with it

The Signature 27 has a 6.8-inch Extreme AMOLED Duo display, which is a Tandem OLED with two light-emitting layers stacked. The display gets up to 12,000 nits of peak brightness (measured on 1% of the screen) and up to 120Hz refresh rate, along with Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Motorola says that this display is 34% more efficient with a 121% longer lifespan than last year's standard AMOLED.

The phone is powered by a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery (35% bigger than last year's 5,200mAh) and supports 90W wired charging. Motorola says that it can get about 12 hours of use from a 12-minute charge, although the charger is sold separately. No wattage was provided for wireless charging, but reverse charging is available at 5W wireless and 4.5W wired.

The Signature 27 uses ArcticMesh for cooling, which is a diamond-infused thermal gel paired with a vapor chamber that is 40% larger than the last generation. It has a 6-antenna design and is Wi-Fi 8 compatible.

Motorola calls out that it is the only phone with "Audio by Bang & Olufsen" and has coaxial stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos and dedicated Sound Modes.

GrapheneOS support and Gemini Intelligence

The Signature 27 is Motorola's first phone to support GrapheneOS, built with the GrapheneOS Foundation and with ARM Memory Tagging Extension, which is hardware memory protection that GrapheneOS requires.

This is significant, since until now, Google Pixel phones, such as the Pixel 11 Pro XL, were the only ones that supported it. Motorola says more details on that will be available in the coming months.

The phone was also designed for Gemini Intelligence, with features expected to roll out in the coming months such as Rambler, Create My Widget and Sign-to-Text. Gemini Omni (video edits by chat) and Lyria for music will be available out of the box. Just be aware that Gemini features will be available in select countries and some may require a subscription.

A tougher and heavier Motorola flagship

The Signature 27 is built with an aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3. It is also rated for IP68 and IP69.

It is available in Pantone Coal Smoke and Capulet Olive colors, measures 7.99mm and weighs 227g, which is thicker and heavier than the first Motorola Signature phone. That's likely the cost of having a bigger battery.

That said, the Signature 27 is $100 pricier than the 512GB Galaxy S26 Ultra was at launch ($1,499.99). For comparison, the Pixel 11 Pro XL and the iPhone 18 Pro Max both start at $1,299. However, those who own one of these rival phones have no real reason to switch, unless they value battery size (the Signature 27's 7,000mAh is a bigger battery than the Galaxy S26 Ultra's 5,000mAh) or GrapheneOS support.

Who the Motorola Signature 27 is for

I'd choose this phone if I wanted a bigger battery than the Galaxy S26 Ultra. I might choose this phone if I wanted to install GrapheneOS on a phone other than a Pixel, but since there's no concrete date yet on when that will roll out, I'd likely wait it out.

After Motorola skipped the first Motorola Signature in the US, I'm happy to see this generation arrive here. I do hope that Motorola continues to bring its top phones stateside. The brand-new Moto Watch Fit 27 and the Moto Buds Ultra 27 have launched alongside the flagship, so you can even get fully decked out in premium Moto gadgets.