Motorola Edge 50 smartphone review – When luxury features meet a mid-range price

Please note: We have updated our rating system and the results of version 8 are not comparable with the results of version 7. More information is available here.

The Motorola Edge 50 is part of Motorola's high-end series, but costing only around $600, it is situated more in between the premium mid-range and high-end class.

Screen glass extending over its edges matches the name of the Motorola Edge 50 and the entire series, as (almost) all of the devices look like this. Of course, the mid-range phone isn't completely borderless, but a screen-to-body ratio of 93.1% is still impressive. There are also only narrow bezels along the top and bottom.

In addition to the chic Koala Gray, the phone comes in the colorways Jungle Green and Peach Fuzz—two brighter colors. The back is covered with artificial leather or artificial suede and boasts a very high-quality feel.

While the phone is slightly longer than its predecessor, it is still quite compact with regard to its 6.7-inch screen. Plus, weighing in at 180 grams, it is comparatively lightweight. Thanks to its rounded sides, the phone feels super slim and is comfortable to hold. The metal frame only protrudes slightly at the top and bottom corners, creating unpleasant edges that can impair the feel of it.

The Edge 50 has been built very stably and can neither be affected through twisting nor by applying strong pressure. Its screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and if you accidentally drop the Edge 50 into freshwater, then you needn't panic, as it is IP68 protected against dust and water.

Unfortunately, Motorola has installed a USB 2.0 port, so data transfers are only possible at standard speed and mirroring the display can only be done wirelessly. However, NFC for mobile payments is on board. It only has one nano-SIM slot, but you can also store an eSIM profile. This means that the phone supports dual SIM operation.

Motorola's smartphone features WiFi 6E, meaning it can also access the lesser-used 6-GHz frequency for WLAN connections. This yields good results: During our test, we measured receiving values of over 1,600 MBit/s. As a result, you can make use of a gigabit data line very well, but such speeds only really become interesting when using a fast internal network structure.

The smartphone boasts similarly good mobile frequency support, including enough 4G and 5G frequencies to allow it to be used further afield to access the web on the go. We repeatedly tested its reception on a random basis during our test and compared it with high-end smartphones. The Motorola Edge 50 performed well and often showed just as good reception as the even more high-end devices.

The smartphone can be located via satellite and we set off on a bike ride to determine the accuracy of its positioning capabilities. The Edge 50 scored highly, deviating only minimally from our actual route in very few places and not even being disturbed by narrow old town streets with a weak signal. All in all, the Edge 50 gains our full recommendation for navigation tasks.

Its operating system is based on Android 14 and Motorola has changed very little about it. All in-house functions are outsourced to separate apps so that they can be kept up to date without needing a complete system update. Some, perhaps unwanted, third-party apps come pre-installed—such as social networks or games. However, they can be uninstalled easily. At the time of testing, the latest security patches were from August 2024, so they could do with an update.

Motorola's update policy is somewhat strange: While the cheaper Edge 50 Neo has more up-to-date security patches and is supposed to receive updates for 5 years, the Edge 50 only has a 3-year update promise and will see new Android versions up to Android 17.

So, we aren't terribly enthusiastic about its software supply, nor about how long the device's service life is. From a sustainability point of view, its packaging is good, as it is plastic-free, the adhesives are water-based and the cardboard parts are largely made from recycled material.

Unfortunately, there is no data on the smartphone's CO₂ consumption during its life cycle. There are also no repair instructions or spare parts for self-repair available for Motorola Edge smartphones.

The Edge 50's 120-Hz display is scanned for touches up to 360 times per second and can therefore be operated very quickly. The hardware buttons on the right-hand side of the case are for volume control and standby. They are easy to feel and have a clean pressure point.

A fingerprint sensor is hidden behind the screen. It is positioned quite far down so that it is easy to reach even with small hands. Once saved, fingerprints are recognized reliably and the phone is unlocked quickly. You can also gain access via facial recognition, which works just as reliably and even in low ambient light: the screen serves as a light source for recognition.

Measurement series with fixed zoom level and different brightness settings

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 is used as the phone's SoC. It ensures that the system runs smoothly in the vast majority of situations but is still relatively weak for this price range, and during our test, it was in some cases significantly outperformed by the SoC in its predecessor (the Motorola Edge 40), namely the MediaTek Dimensity 8020.

The Edge 50 also lags a little behind devices in the same price range in terms of graphics performance, and is more designed for gaming at 30fps than 60fps. Motorola has additionally made some savings when it comes to its storage, as the phone only uses UFS 2.2 storage which, although its capacity is large, is comparatively quite slow.

We measured a significant temperature increase on its case under prolonged load: Up to 55.9 °C at room temperature is certainly not pleasant and is clearly too high; on hot summer days, the temperature can rise to a critical level and shut down the device. Interestingly, the SoC didn't seem to be affected by these high temperatures and wasn't throttled even after numerous runs of a benchmark.

The speaker on the bottom edge is supported by the earphones, which enables slight stereo effects and makes the sound feel a little fuller. In general, the sound is pretty good—music is played quite loudly and isn't distorted even at maximum level. However, you shouldn't expect too much bass or low mids.

External speakers or headphones can be connected via the USB-C port or Bluetooth. Both worked without any problems during our test. Almost every Bluetooth audio codec currently available is supported, so even more exotic codecs can be used.

At 5000 mAh, its battery is significantly more powerful than that of its predecessor, but the phone's runtimes are only marginally better: 16:06 hours in our Wi-Fi test is by no means bad and should be enough to ensure that the phone doesn't have to be charged every single day with moderate use. Other smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, last significantly longer with the same battery capacity.

The Edge 50 can be charged using a cable at up to 68 watts. It then takes a maximum of just over an hour to reach 100 % charge again. Wireless charging is possible at up to 15 watts, but you'll have to provide your own charger as Motorola does not supply one.

At the time of writing, the Motorola Edge 50 is not yet available to purchase in the United States.

Please note: We have updated our rating system and the results of version 8 are not comparable with the results of version 7. More information is available here.