Motorola Edge S launched with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870, six cameras, 90Hz screen, 5,000mAh battery, and more

We've heard about Motorola's upcoming Motorola Edge S for quite some time, thanks to a slew of leaks. Industry insiders speculated that the device would run a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+. Later, we found out that it was the Snapdragon 870, making the Motorola Edge S the world's first-ever device to run the silicon. Currently, the smartphone is only available for sale in China for RMB 1,999 (US$310) for the base variant. A global launch is expected to follow suit soon.

The Motorola Edge S' Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC can be paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, expandable up to 1TB via a micro SD card. Lastly, its 5,000mAh battery supports fast charging at 20W via a USB Type-C port, as foretold by earlier leaks. Wireless charging functionality is not available, unfortunately, but that is understandable, given its price.

Unlike several affordable flagships from competitors like Xiaomi, Realme and Redmi who offer an AMOLED panel wherever possible, the Motorola Edge S ships with a 6.7-inch HDR 10 certified IPS LCD panel clocked at 90Hz. Reports from last year talked about a device codenamed Motorola Nio that came with a 105Hz screen. In all likelihood, it was referencing the Motorola Edge S, as other Motorola Nio specifications also appear to be identical to that of the Edge S. 

The Motorola Edge S comes with six cameras in total. Its quad-camera array consists of a 64MP primary lens assisted by a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens, 2MP depth sensor and a ToF sensor. On the selfie camera, we get a 16MP sensor coupled with an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Interestingly enough, Motorola has restricted the video recording prowess on the Motorola Edge S to 6K 30 FPS instead of 8K.

Following the footsteps of Huawei and Samsung, Motorola has introduced its new desktop client alongside the Motorola Edge S. It is called My UI that can be accessed by connecting the smartphone to a PC/Mac via USB. The Motorola Edge S runs Android 11 out of the box and is compatible with Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6. And yes, the phone has a 3.5mm audio jack. A side-mounted fingerprint sensor is included too.

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