Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Preview: Motorola's design team strikes again
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Intro
Motorola has launched its flagship lineup for 2024, and the most specced out model is the Edge 50 Ultra. Unfortunately, for now none of the Edge 50 Series has a counterpart for the US market, but they are available in the UK and the rest of Europe.
The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra in particular will cost you €999 for the base model, which comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It has one of the best chipsets on the market, a set of promising cameras and some AI features to elevate their performance, as well as a eye-catching and comfortable design.
Let's get into the nitty gritty!
Table of Contents:
- Specs
- Design and Display
- Camera
- Performance
- Software
- Battery and Charging
- Audio Quality and Haptics
- Should you buy it?
Also read:
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Specs
Fully equipped
Let's start with an overview of the expected Edge 50 Ultra specs:
| Specs | Motorola Edge 50 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Size and Weight | 161.1 x 72.4 x 8.6mm |
| Display | 6.7-inch FHD+ OLED, 144Hz |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (3nm) |
| Software | Android 14 |
| Cameras | 50 MP main, f/1.6 50 MP ultrawide, f/2.0 64 MP telephoto, 3X zoom, f/2.4 50 MP front, f/1.9 |
| Battery Size | 4,500 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 125 wired charging 50W wireless 10W reverse wireless |
| Prices | 12/512GB for €999 |
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Design and Display
Stellar display and sleek design
The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is a similar size to its predecessor (the Edge 40 Pro), or otherwise said it is a pretty large one, coming in at 161.1 x 72.4 x 8.6 mm. It is definitely not as heavy as some of the competition out there, though, weighing in at 197g, which is about 35g less than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, for example.
Unlike other high-end flagship phones, the Edge 50 Ultra does not come in a glass sandwich body. Instead, it can have either a wood back or one made out of vegan leather. Motorola is well known for its alternative materials, and there is something to be said about the vegan leather back, which makes the phone less prone to slipping and does not attract fingerprints.
Speaking of the back, Motola has altered the camera island, which used to look a bit less than appealing. Now it looks as if the back panel has perfectly covered that area, almost like a blanket that only reveals the outlines of where the camera island is.
Unlike other flagships who come with titanium or stainless steel, though, the frame is made out of aluminum, which is lighter than both, but not as tough.
The display on the Edge 50 Ultra (and the rest of the Edge 50 family) is curved, which contrasts most of the other premium phones on the market as they tend to have flat displays instead. Naturally, this is a matter of personal preference, but an edge display seems fitting for a phone lineup that includes that word in its name.
At the front, you get a 1220 x 2712 pixels P-OLED display with refresh rate that reaches a maximum of 144Hz. The phone can also go to 2500 nits of peak brightness and supports HDR10+ content (no Dolby Vision support).
Protecting this gorgeous display is Gorilla Glass Victus, although, given its curved nature we would definitely slap on a screen protector just in case.
As far as colors (materials) go, you can get the Edge 50 Ultra in:
- Forest Grey (silicone/vegan leather)
- Peach Fuzz (silicone/vegan leather)
- Nordic Wood (wood)
Biometrics-wize, you get an under-display fingerprint reader that we expect to be very fast and precise. There is also face recognition, although, as usual, that option is less secure.
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Camera
Looks great on paper
The camera of the Edge 50 Ultra is where Motorola obviously takes the most proud and joy from its latest high-end flagship. Not only does it come with some rather impressive hardware, but it is also where the AI utilization is most visible.
Here's a quick look at the full Edge 50 Ultra camera specs:
- Main (wide): 50MP, f/1.6 aperture, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
- Ultra-wide: 50MP, f/2.0, Autofocus
- Telephoto: 64MP, 3X Zoom, f/2.4, Autofocus, OIS
- Front: 50MP, f/1.9, Autofocus
You can record 4K video at 60FPS, and 1080P video at a maximum of 960FPS for slow motion. There's also an option to record in 10 bit HDR10+, although that would take up a lot of space.
As far as AI is concerned, there are a few features that aid the camera performance. For one, you have Action Shot, which is the phone's ability to adjust shutter speed and ISO in low-light environments to capture as much light as possible.
Next, we have Auto Focus Tracking, which helps keep subjects moving fast inside the frame clear to see when recording videos. Another video feature, and the more important one in my opinion, is the Adaptive Stabilization, which adjusts the stabilization based on how you are holding the phone and your movements.
Lastly, we have the Auto Enhance feature, which actually comes from a master in photo editing software, Google. Motorola just decided to bake this feature into the camera app on the Edge 50 Ultra. Users have the option to choose from Natural (the default) and the Auto Enhance mode, the latter of which aims to edit the image so that it looks better.
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Performance
Flagship performance with higher power efficiency
One of the best things about the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is that it comes with the latest and greatest of Qualcomm chipsets, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. This chip is absolutely a capable one as far as performance goes, although not as capable as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (notice the lack of an "s" after the "8" there).
The difference between the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is that the former cannot be overclocked and has more efficiency cores, while the latter lass less efficiency cores and an additional one for performance. In other words, the 8 Gen 3 is more powerful, but the 8s Gen 3 should be more power-efficient while still very capable.
The Edge 50 Ultra comes with 12/16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, which is fastest currently used in flagship mobile phones. It also has 512GB/1TB storage variants with built-in
UFS 4.0 storage, which is also up to par with the competition.Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Software
The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra comes with Android 14 straight out of the box, and a Motorola's Hello UI skin on top of it. That includes familiar features such as the twist gesture to turn on the camera even while the phone is locked, or the chop gesture to turn on the flashlight.
Motorola has also added some AI pazzaz in the form of generative wallpapers, which is admittedly a gimmicky feature for most of the time. However, the twist here makes this feature a bit more interesting, as you can generate a wallpaper based on a photo of your clothing, something I quite liked on the more affordable Edge 50 Pro.
Other than that, there are not generative AI features like the ones you would find on the Galaxy S24 or Pixel 8, unfortunately.
The software update situation is rather disappointing, however, as you you get only 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches; below average for a today's Android flagship scene.
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Battery
The complete charging package
Motorola is one of the manufacturers that places a importance in charging speeds, and that can be seen throughout all of its Edge 50 series models. The Edge 50 Ultra comes with 125W charging speed, 50W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless.
With a 4,500mAh on board the phone can charge from 0-100% in about 23 minutes or so, if we are to judge from the already released Edge 50 Pro, which comes with the same battery and charging specs.
Speaking of the Edge 50 Pro, one of its downsides was the rather mediocre battery life (compared to the competition), so we expect something similar from the Edge 50 Ultra, especially with the more powerful Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 inside.
The 10W reverse wireless charging is also super neat in case you decide to buy Motorola's first wireless earbuds, the Moto Buds Plus, or any other earbuds that allow wireless charging.
50W wireless charging is also pretty neat, as long as you have a wireless charger that supports this level of charge output.
Motorola Edge 50 Ultra Audio Quality and Haptics
Motorola has been quite successful at offering great audio quality with its Edge series in the past couple of years. The stereo speakers on the mid-range Edge 50 Pro were overall pretty good, with great volume and overall good sound profile, but with a weird mushy/muted sound throughout the whole range.
We expect the Edge 50 Ultra to be one level higher in terms of audio quality compared to the Edge 50 Pro, with clearer and richer sound. We also expect the haptics on the Ultra to be more precise in comparison, as the ones on the midranger are rather disappointing.
Sadly, like almost all other phones on the market nowadays, the Edge 50 Ultra has no 3.5mm audio jack, so you would have to depend on USB-C connectors or Bluetooth headphones.
Should you buy it?
The Motorola Edge 50 Ultra is definitely looking good, especially with those different back panel materials it comes in and the thin formfactor. The curved display is not for everybody, though, but it also wouldn't be an proper "Edge" phone if it didn't include that.
We are happy to see the importance Motorola has placed onto the camera system, which sounds like a potentially very capable one, especially if we were to speculate based on the Edge 50 Pro's camera performance.
You also get quite the capable chipset inside, which is doesn't match the competition from Samsung exactly, but should offer more power-efficiency instead.
The one issue—and it isn't a small one—that we have with the Edge 50 Ultra is that it only comes with 3 years of Android updates. Now, granted, if you don't plan on owning the phone for any longer than that, then maybe you wouldn't mind this setback. That said, you are paying €999, and the reselling value will drop significantly because of that.
For now, while we do like how the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra sounds on paper, we would recommend you wait for our full review before hitting that "pre-order" button.
Meanwhile, you can take a look at some of the competition such as the Galaxy S24 (€959), which comes with a great set of cameras, an even more powerful chipset, more compact body, and 7 years of support. Your other option is the OnePlus 12 (€949), which comes with the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip as in the Galaxy S24, but with the same charging speeds as the Motorola Edge 50 Ultra—kind of like the best of both worlds.
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