2024 Winners and losers: Motorola | Infinium-tech
The Motorola portfolio of smartphones for 2024 includes no less than 30 models. There’s a new set of Edge 50 phones, two new foldables, a handful of Moto G affordable devices, and even a ThinkPhone, as a nod to Motorola parent company Lenovo.
Some have been impressive devices, while others have disappointed. Here’s our take on what worked and what flopped.
Winner: Motorola Razr 50 Ultra/Razer+ 2024
It’s been a slower year than usual in the world of foldables, but Motorola is one of those companies that made huge profits despite the stagnation. The Razer 50 Ultra is a major reason for this, as the clamshell is improved over its already impressive predecessor. There are no major cons with the foldable panel, and the chipset was extremely fast for a phone in this category.
The new Razr is finally waterproof, and we’ve even got a telephoto lens.
Only a few companies offer clamshell foldables outside China, and we applaud Motorola for bringing the Razr 50 Ultra (sold as the Razr+ 2024 in the US) to international markets.
Loser: Motorola Razr 50/Razer 2024
While we’re on the topic of foldables, we can’t miss the vanilla Razr 50. Sure, the phone inherited some features from the Razer 40 Ultra, but in terms of camera, it failed to impress. The Dimensity 7300 chipset also performs poorly, which feels like an insult to anyone willing to spend €800 on a smartphone.
Motorola launched the Razr 50 (Razer 2024 in the US) as a more affordable alternative to the Ultra, and as such, it’s bound to come with some compromises. Sadly, it decided to remove the adapter from the box under the vague pretext of being environmentally conscious. This argument falls short given the heavy case in the retail box.
motorola razr 50 ultra
Winner: Motorola Edge 50 Neo
Motorola managed to position this year’s Neo in its own category – a lightweight phone with a fairly small screen and a midranger price and performance. It’s IP68-rated, the screen and battery are great, and it even comes with wireless charging.
The Edge 50 Neo is also a beautiful looking phone. All of its color options were co-selected with Pantone, and all five paint jobs are stunning.
The Edge 50 Neo was recently launched in Mocha Mousse, the 2025 Pantone Color of the Year. It is said to be inspired by cocoa, chocolate and coffee. Of course, looks are subjective, but this new color is another bold move from Motorola.
The color matching case is another nice touch about the Edge 50 Neo.
motorola razr+ 2024
Loser: Motorola Edge 50
There are five members in the Edge 50 family, and the vanilla option is easily the most forgettable. Although the phone has a competitive starting price of €500, its older Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset quickly puts it on the back foot.
We reviewed the phone several weeks ago, and the battery test was completely unimpressive. Also, despite the Edge 50 having an OLED panel, Motorola removed the AOD feature. However, it might be nice to keep a bad battery from becoming even more frustrating.
motorola edge 50
Age 50 is not completely disastrous. Its body is still thin, light and the back panel is not slippery, making the phone easy to handle. The device is IP68-certified and military-grade for durability and resistance to extreme temperatures. The cameras are also good, even if the apps have some trouble running.
Winner: Pantone Partnership
We’ve already discussed the Edge 50 Neo and its colors, but we should also mention Motorola’s partnership with Pantone.
It’s very simple: The phone company is given the rights to use the trademark name and paint job for its phones, while Pantone gets the brand exposure and displays its sharp colors on a variety of materials like leather, plastic and glass. .
Pantone is the company of choice for colors in many industries. It provides consistency and a reliable color guide, which is used by printing houses, factories, and manufacturing plants.
Speaking specifically about Moto and Edge phones, we’ve seen some amazing choices over the last 12 years. Several phones, including the Edge 50, Edge 50 Ultra, and Razer 40 Ultra, are selling in Peach Fuzz, the 2024 color of the year. This year’s top foldable gets the mocha mousse treatment.
Even when Motorola decided not to pay for the naming rights to the Moto G series, we still saw some daring colors, like the purple Moto G85, green Moto G35 and our favorite, the twilight purple Moto G55.
Loser: Moto G Series
We wanted to choose a Moto G smartphone but struggled to decide which one was the worst. So we present Motorola’s biggest flop of 2024 – the Moto G series.
We understand that Moto G phones are meant to be affordable, but Motorola has cut corners a lot to keep the price down. The G35 used an ineffective Unisoc chip while keeping the 5,000 mAh battery with 18W charging from its predecessor; The G55 was barely an upgrade over its predecessor, and for some reason, Motorola skipped the Moto G65.
Motorola Moto G35
The company launched a Moto G75, which is more expensive than the Edge 50 Fusion despite a less powerful CPU, slower wired charging, and a basic camera set.
The tour of disappointments ends with the Moto G85, which, despite some impressive achievements like better main and selfie cameras, is hardly a worthy upgrade over the G84.
Notable Mention: Firmware Update
Motorola has been lagging behind the competition in terms of software updates for some time now. Luckily, the company stepped up its game in 2024 and extended its support substantially with the midranger Edge 50 Neo notably receiving five versions of the new Android OS.
We’re not counting this as a win yet because it’s easy to make promises. We’ll have to wait and see if Motorola will follow suit. Of course, the company also said that some AI features are being developed, but once the promises start appearing on the screen, we’ll count them as wins.
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