Motorola may be gradually and quietly becoming my favorite phone manufacturer, as well as a major concern for Samsung and others.
The Lenovo-owned corporation is by no means an unknown quantity – rather the contrary, given its entire history – but it does appear to be transitioning to a stronger, more assertive form recently.
Motorola was once recognized for its robustly built, low-cost phones. It used to be an easy recommendation if you didn’t have much money to spend on your next phone: simply buy the latest Moto G. For a while, each new model topped our best budget phone rankings.
Motorola’s focus appears to have evolved in recent years. It still manufactures decent Moto G phones, but it also produces consistently good mid-range and flagship phones.
So far, the Motorola Signature has been one of my favourite flagship phones of 2026, giving an extremely thin and traditionally attractive appearance without sacrificing camera quality – all at a significantly lower price than the iPhone Air and even the older Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge.
Then there’s the Motorola Razr Fold, which improves on the Signature’s excellent work by providing one of the most haptic and inviting book-style foldable phones yet. It may not be as thin as the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but I know which one I would prefer to use on a daily basis.
Rather than copying practically every other manufacturer’s iPhone-like designs, Motorola has taken its own approach. It has warm, natural (and nature-inspired) materials, curved edges, and inviting Pantone-approved colors.
In short, Motorola phones have a strong and distinct character that most of their competitors consistently lack. It also makes some fascinating accessories, wearables, and audio devices, however not all of them are approved by AG4Tech.
Sticking like a magnet
Motorola appears to be continuing to outperform the rest of the field in other categories as well.
The Motorola Edge 70 Max is believed to be in the works, as it recently emerged in the Wireless Power Consortium certification database. The WPC is in charge of developing new wireless charging standards, thus any appearance from a new phone is considered official confirmation.
What’s notable about this listing is that it reveals the Motorola Edge 70 Max will support Qi2 charging, namely the quicker 25W Qi 2.2 standard.
Magnetic wireless charging has been an alluring feature of the iPhone package for years (MagSafe is nearly synonymous with it), but only the Google Pixel 10 series has accepted it among the popular Android crowd.
Samsung ignored (and probably abandoned) Qi2 compatibility in its Galaxy S26 lineup in favor of a half-baked Qi2 case approach, while Xiaomi, Oppo, and Honor have also excluded the feature.
Motorola already boasts one of the most comprehensive and outstanding smartphone lineups on the market. There is every evidence that the corporation will continue to move forward as we approach 2027, which should be concerning for an otherwise stagnant industry.
