Motorola Edge 40: Almost too good for protective cases thanks to its vegan leather back cover

Many smartphone users place their phone in a protective case to keep it scratch- and dirt free. But smartphones are also characterized by special haptics that users also want to be able to feel. 

The Motorola Edge 40 is no exception. In the colors Eclipse Black, Nebula Green and Viva Magenta, the 6.55-inch midrange smartphone has a back cover made of vegan leather, making it very comfortable to hold. At the same time, it is excellently manufactured and, at 171 grams, very light for a smartphone of its size and quite slim at 7.49 millimeters.

144 Hz and four-digit brightness

The Edge 40 has more to offer than just a chic and grippy exterior. Another highlight of the Android 13 smartphone is its 144 Hz OLED screen, which has a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels and supports HDR10+. According to Motorola, the display is supposed shine up to 1200 nits, but this was even slightly higher in our tests.

In everyday situations, the brightness is in the four-digit zone, allowing the Edge 40 to be used very well outdoors. Thanks to IP68 certification, it is not only protected against dust, but can also survive short drops in water (up to 30 minutes in 1 meter deep water according to the specifications).

As fast as the Google Pixel 7

The Motorola Edge 40 is also suitable for everyday use thanks to its SoC and storage configuration. With 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage and the eight-core MediaTek Dimensity 8020, the smartphone delivers solid midrange performance and achieves around 687,000 points in AnTuTu v9, for example. It's roughly in the same performance class as the Google Pixel 7 and runs a lot faster than its predecessor, the Edge 30 (553,000 points in AnTuTu v9).

Read the full review of the Motorola Edge 40 here.