The new Moto E6 is a budget phone that would be completely ignored outside the US

The US smartphone market has a big gap in the budget and mid-range segments, with most OEMs offering massively overpriced devices in those classes. Motorola has been one of the few companies to attempt to fill that niche—the Moto G series for the mid-range, and the Moto E lineup for the budget segment. The company has now announced the latest Moto E device but it's massively underwhelming.

The Moto E6 is a direct successor to last year's Moto E5 but is hardly an improvement by most metrics. The E6 features a 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1440x720 and a resulting pixel density of 296 ppi. Under the hood is a Snapdragon 435, a slight improvement on the Snapdragon 425 on the E5.

It features 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. There's a single 13 MP camera at the back with the ability to record 1080p videos at 30fps. The selfie shooter is a 5 MP sensor. This was never designed to be a camera phone, in any case. 

There's a microUSB port, 3.5mm jack, and a removable 3000 mAh battery—with terrible 5W charging to go with it. The E5 featured a 4000 mAh battery, so this is a step backward by all indications, especially since battery performance is regarded as one of the biggest selling points of devices in this segment.

Pricing is where the Moto E6 falls completely on its face, as it ships with an MSRP of US$149.99. It's not terribly priced for the US market—due to the lack of any actual competition—but outside the US, that price tag is almost laughable. The new Redmi 7A, for example, has a similar display, a way more powerful SoC, a bigger 4000 mAh battery, and faster charging (10W)...all for US$85. A considerably better phone for almost half the price. 

As long as companies refuse to spread their wings into the US mid-range and budget segments, devices like the Moto E6 will remain viable options, and that's a shame. The E6, for what it is, is a solid phone, but it'd be a lot more attractive if it were at least US$30 cheaper.