Motorola Edge 40 Pro: The affordable flagship has won us over

Everyone wants the next flagship killer, an affordable smartphone that can do (almost) just as much as the expensive, high-end smartphones of the established manufacturers. Motorola's Edge series is no longer a newcomer, and the Edge 40 Pro is not exactly dirt cheap at just under US$1000, but it is still significantly cheaper than an iPhone 14 Plus or a Xiaomi 13 Pro.

Can it also do everything that the big ones can? Motorola has equipped its high-end device with the fastest Snapdragon SoC currently available, putting it on par with rivals. The smartphone throttled very strongly under sustained load in our tests, but others smartphones do this as well.

The screen has slightly fewer pixels and a little less brightness, but has a 165 Hz OLED that is still impressive and also reduces flickering thanks to the DC dimming mode.

The battery lasts a long time and charging is very fast thanks to the 125 watt technology and the included charger. The speakers also convince with powerful sound that is not overdriven.

The USB-C port can also be used as a Display Port, so you can connect the Edge 40 Pro to a large screen and use it as a PC replacement or webcam thanks to Ready For.

Motorola's Edge 40 Pro cannot completely convince in one discipline only: the cameras are by no means bad, they all have a fairly high resolution and the front-facing camera is particularly impressive. However, there is no real optical zoom; more expensive models from the competition are already more advanced here.

And even though Motorola promises updates every two months, the security patches on our test device were outdated.

Other details about the Motorola smartphone, numerous test values and comparison tables can be found here in our extended review of the Motorola Edge 40 Pro.