Motorola Edge 30 Ultra is a 200MP photographer's dream

Motorola has been bossing it the affordable end of the smartphone spectrum for ages, but its flagship game has been lacking. The Edge 30 Ultra looks set to change that: it’s the first Moto with a whopping 200MP camera lens, and equally beefy hardware underneath.

It’s not the first phone with such a high pixel count, but is one of the first to be heading Westward. The sensor has optical image stabilisation for shake-free shots, and is paired with two secondary snappers: a 50MP ultrawide (with macro autofocus good for 3cm close-ups) and 12MP telephoto portrait lens with f/1.6 aperture good for 2x optical zoom with plenty of bokeh blur. The front-facing selfie cam is similarly well-equipped with a 60MP, f/2.2 sensor.

The 1/1.22in main sensor is the firm’s biggest to date, and is able to record either 8K video or 4K in HDR. The camera app has also been updated with a dedicated portrait mode that can toggle between focal lengths, rather than lenses.

Underneath the 6.67in curved-edge screen lurks an in-display fingerprint sensor. Expect a p-OLED panel with Full HD+ resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio and gamer-friendly 144Hz refresh rate. HDR10+ support should give movies and streaming video extra visual punch. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass 5, with both sides bending into the sand-blasted aluminium frame. You can also expect Dolby Atmos sound from the stereo speakers.

There have been no shortcuts on the performance front, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU and as much as 12GB of RAM, depending on the model. You’ll be able to pick one up with up to 256GB of on-board storage.

Battery life should be decent, thanks to a 4610mAh cell, and will be no slouch when it’s time to plug in: wired charging tops out at a blistering 125W, and there’s 50W wireless charging on board (with reverse charging) as well. Motorola reckons seven minutes is long enough to deliver enough juice for an entire day away from the mains. The charger is bundled in the box, too.

The Edge30 Ultra has been on sale in China as the X30 Pro for a month or so now, but is now finally heading to the UK and Europe to give Moto a much needed flagship – albeit one that’s not eye-wateringly expensive. It’s coming in Interstellar Black and Starlight White colours.

Motorola fans will be able to pick up an Edge 30 Ultra directly from the Moto web store, or from all the usual online retailers. Prices start from £750 for the 128GB model.

About

A tech addict from about the age of three (seriously, he's got the VHS tapes to prove it), Tom's been writing about gadgets, games and everything in between for the past decade, with a slight diversion into the world of automotive in between. As Deputy Editor, Tom keeps the website ticking along, jam-packed with the hottest gadget news and reviews. When he's not on the road attending launch events, you can usually find him scouring the web for the latest news, to feed Stuff readers' insatiable appetite for tech.