Last year, Motorola showed it could make a flagship phone capable of holding its own against the best Android phones in the form of the Motorola Edge Plus (2023). And based on renders that have popped up on the web, it looks like we're about to see a follow-up device very soon.
The renders, posted at Android Headlines, claim to show off the upcoming Motorola Edge 50 Plus. But that's the phone U.S. shoppers know as the Edge Plus by a different name. After all, last year's Motorola Edge 40 Plus released in the U.K. was rebranded as the Motorola Edge Plus for its North American release. Apart from a teaser posted on the Chinese site Weibo, Motorola isn't saying much, though the leaked renders do plenty of talking on their own.
From the renders, we can see that Motorola looks to be planning three colors for this year’s Edge Plus— including purple, black, and a stone color that comes with white and grey accents. The black and purple versions are a consistent color on the back, while the grey version’s coloring makes it appear textured.
The renders also show that the Edge Plus will ship with three rear-facing cameras — reportedly a 50-megapixel main camera with a f/1.4-aperture joined by 13mm wide-angle camera and a 73mm telephoto lens capable of a 6x zoom. Motorola will also offer laser autofocus, according to the report. All of that would be an upgrade from the 2x zoom the Motorola Edge Plus 2023's 12MP portrait camera offered, and more in line with the 5x zoom featured on one of the Galaxy S24 Ultra's telephoto lenses.
On the front of this year's model, Motorola appears to once again turn to a curved display, as seen in the renders. The company also seems to be planning a hole punch for the front-facing camera, leaving plenty of room for screen real estate. Reports point to a 6.7-inch display with a 165Hz refresh rate, matching last year's display specs.
The new Motorola flagship should pack quite a punch, as it's tipped to get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor currently powering the Galaxy S24 linup in North America. Motorola's phone is expected to feature 12GB of RAM and a 4,500 mAh battery, with support for both 125W wired and 50W wireless charging speeds. (That wired charging speed might not make it to the North American version. OnePlus, which offers similarly high-speed charging, caps wired charging speeds at 80W for the U.S. versions of phones like the OnePlus 12 owing to different electrical standards.)
That Weibo teaser for the Motorola Edge 50 Plus alludes to AI-powered features, which is hardly surprising. AI was a big focus of the Galaxy S24 launch, and it's also going to be front and center on the iPhone 16 this fall, reportedly due to an AI focus for the iOS 18 software update.
It's unclear when the new Motorola flagship will arrive, though the renders suggest an April 3 date. However, that could be limited to the phones shipping in China and other parts of the world. A U.S. launch for the Motorola Edge Plus (2024) is likey to be further out.
