Motorola Edge 40 Pro aims for the mainstream sweet spot
Snapdragon power, rapid charging and capable cams - for a sensible price
While Motorola has been killing it on the affordable phone front with the increasingly large Moto G family, the firm’s higher-end Edge series was quietly bringing the fight to pricer rivals. The Motorola Edge 40 Pro (£800, from motorola.co.uk) is the latest: a mainstream flagship with hardware to rival the likes of Samsung, Google and OnePlus, but at a slightly more appealing price point.
Essentially a European version of the China-only Moto X40 launched late last year, the Edge 40 Pro lands with a high refresh rate OLED screen, the latest Qualcomm silicon, a trio of capable cameras and incredibly zippy 125W wired charging. It replaces last year’s Edge 30 Pro, which which wasn’t a common sight here in the UK but made a splash in other territories with its extensive spec sheet.
The 6.67in handset borrows styling set out by last year’s Motorola Edge 30 Ultra and Edge 30 Fusion, including a sandblasted glass rear for added grip and curved edge screen up front. It’s P68 dust and water resistant, and has been treated to Gorilla Glass Victus for extra scratch and drop endurance.
A 2400×1080 pOLED display panel promises 1300 nits peak brightness, a gamer-friendly 144Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support to give your streaming shows extra visual oomph. There’s also a set of Dolby Atmos certified stereo speakers.
Motorola is promising big photography improvements this year. While the 50MP, f/1.8 main sensor and 50MP, f/2.2 ultrawide return from the outgoing Edge 30 Pro (the former with onmi-directional phase-detect autofocus and optical image stabilisation, the later with an automatic macro mode and 3cm focus distance), the uninspired depth cam has been swapped out for an altogether more useful 12MP portrait telephoto lens. It’ll deliver 2x optical zoom and should have plenty of natural depth blur thanks to a wide f/1.6 aperture. There’s also a 60MP selfie cam up front.
Inside there’s a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, 12GB of RAM and choice of 256 or 512GB of built-in storage, which should put it on par with most recent top-tier phones. A 4600mAh battery isn’t the biggest around, but rapid 125W wired charging should mean less time spent tethered to a mains socket. Motorola has also packed in wireless and reverse wireless charging – something you won’t find on the similarly priced OnePlus 11.
It runs Android 13 out of the box, with Motorola’s typically light touch to customisation bringing a near-stock experience. The firm is promising three major Android version updates, along with four years of bi-monthly security patches.
The Motorola Edge 40 Pro is going on sale this month, directly from the Motorola website, with prices starting from £800. You’ll be able to pick one up in Interstellar Black and Lunar Blue colours.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
