Motorola Edge 40 in the test: How good is the flagship killer with a 144 Hertz display?

With the Edge 40, Motorola is providing its top smartphone Edge 40 Pro with a “little brother” at the end of May and only charges around 600 euros for it despite the lavish equipment. This brings back memories of previous OnePlus models that scored well with their price-performance ratio.

But does the new Moto phone really have what it takes to be a flagship killer? Let’s find out together.

design and processing

Anyone who sees the Edge 40 will expect a significantly higher retail price. Because when it comes to design, Motorola is based on the look of other premium smartphones with a price tag of well over 1,000 euros. The mobile phone has a 6.55-inch display, the side edges of which fall off at an angle. A punchhole camera is also embedded in the screen. With this look, the front is clearly reminiscent of Samsung’s Galaxy S series.

The back, on the other hand, is completely different. The test device that we have is the “Eclipse Black” color variant. Their back is covered with vegan leather. The imitation leather is very successful and provides good grip. Fingerprints don’t stick to it, but dust particles do. The Moto Edge 40 isn’t the first phone to appear with a vegan leather back. However, this type of material is still rarely used at the moment, which makes the Motorola cell phone pleasantly stand out from the crowd.

The Motorola Edge 40 is also available in the colors “Nebula Green” and “Lunar Blue”. However, only the green color variant is covered with vegan leather. With the blue model you have to make do with a plastic back. The frame of the phone is made of metal. In addition, the housing is dust and waterproof according to IP68 and the imitation leather did not bother the water contact, at least in the test.

In the hand, the Edge 40 feels much more compact than the dimensions of 158.43 × 71.99 × 7.49 millimeters would suggest. This is ensured by two design tricks. In addition to the already mentioned beveled edges of the screen, the aspect ratio also supports this impression. At 20:9, the cell phone is elongated and therefore appears narrower in the hand. Nevertheless, operation with one hand is hardly possible.

Motorola Edge 40 in pictures

This is what the Motorola Edge 40 looks like.

If you are looking for a compact cell phone, you should better choose another model. The beveled display edges are also a matter of taste. It is not without reason that Samsung is now doing without them again in the majority of its Galaxy S models.

Since the camera module protrudes and is not placed in the middle on the back, the cell phone does not lie flat on the table, but wobbles when you use it. If you don’t like it, you’ll have to look for another model as well.

Furnishing

Let’s move from the outer to the inner values. What did Motorola install in the Edge 40?

screen

Of course, the first thing that catches the eye is the display. It is 6.55 inches in size and has a Full HD+ resolution. A pOLED is used as the panel. The technology is thinner than conventional OLED screens, but it still ensures crisp colors and rich black levels. The viewing angles are also large. With a maximum of 1,200 nits, the screen is so bright that it is still easy to read even in direct sunlight.

A highlight of the display is the refresh rate. The screen can display images at up to 144 Hertz, making it even faster than that of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. However, Motorola only recommends the high refresh rate for gaming. From the factory, the screen works in an automatic mode that clocks up to a maximum of 120 Hertz.

processor and memory

The processor is the new MediaTek chip MT6891, also known as Dimensity 8020. It is supported by 8 gigabytes of RAM. The performance is comparable to the Pixel 6a. In terms of performance, the Edge 40 is one of the faster devices in the mid-range segment. For 600 euros, there are also alternatives with a faster processor – such as the Xiaomi 12T Pro, which is now much cheaper.

A notice: We ran all benchmarks three times and then took the average. While Geekbench primarily checks the processor performance, AnTuTu also includes the performance of the GPU in the evaluation.

On the positive side, the phone hardly gets warm under load. Motorola succeeds in distributing the heat well and dissipating it quickly, so that the performance remains largely constant over a longer period of time. It only dropped to 84 percent in the throttling test. A good value!

The Motorola Edge 40 offers 256 gigabytes of memory for your data, which cannot be expanded. Other storage variants are not planned, at least for Germany.

software

The operating system is Android 13. Updates to Android 14 and Android 15 as well as regular security patches for three years are guaranteed. Motorola has left the Android system largely unchanged. Only the well-known Moto Actions and the PC-like Ready For mode supplement the Google system.

You will also find some bloatware on the phone ex works (probably also to lower the price). However, Marktguru, Monopoly and the MOJA app can be easily deleted.

camera

The Motorola Edge 40 offers a dual camera on the back for photo and video recordings. This consists of a 50-megapixel sensor with an aperture of F/1.4. The sensor is also optically stabilized. An ultra-wide angle is used as the second sensor, which has a resolution of 13 megapixels and can also be used for macro shots. The phone has a 32-megapixel camera for selfies.

All three cameras can record videos in 4K with up to 60 FPS (120 FPS are also possible in slow motion mode). There is no optical zoom. You can only digitally zoom into the image up to eight times.

The two rear cameras deliver usable images both during the day and at night. The recordings are very sharp and detailed. But sometimes they seem exaggerated to us. This is particularly evident in night shots. We would advise against using the digital zoom, here the results quickly drop significantly – even at a zoom level of 2x. This is a value at which many mobile phones still deliver digital recordings comparable to an optical zoom.

battery life

The Edge 40 offers a battery capacity of 4,400 mAh, Motorola promises that you can get through the day on one charge. We are still running final tests, as we only received the device at short notice. But at least when the display works in automatic mode, we consider the value to be realistic.

The mobile phone can be quickly recharged with up to 68 watts using the included power pack. In the test, the battery indicator rose from 5 to 60 percent within 15 minutes. After 30 minutes it was even 86 percent. Alternatively, it can also be charged wirelessly with up to 15 watts.

We also noticed that

• The Motorola cell phone can be operated with two SIM cards, but the second SIM must be an eSIM.
• A transparent case is included.

alternatives

If you don’t like the Motorola Edge 40, you should take a look at the Xiaomi 12T Pro. This offers a faster processor and a camera with better zoom qualities. You have to do without wireless charging for this.

A good compromise that combines the strengths of both devices is the Google Pixel 7.

Motorola Edge 40

editorial rating 7.5 reader ratings

6 reviews

design and processing

9.0

equipment and service

8.0

camera and media

7.0

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Note on transparency: The Motorola Edge was loaned to Netzwelt by the manufacturer for two weeks.

Motorola Edge 40: The Best Alternatives

Don’t you agree? Are you looking for suitable alternatives? Below are the best Motorola Edge 40 alternatives. You can find an even more extensive list in our smartphone overview.

Motorola Edge 40 data sheet

Here you will find the technical data for the Motorola Edge 40. You can easily compare size, weight and other properties with other products.

processor	MediaTek Dimension 8020
GPU	ARM Mali-G77 MC9
R.A.M.	8th
battery capacity	4,400mAh
fast charging	✔ Yes
Interchangeable	✘ No
wireless charging	✔ Yes
reverse charging	✘ No
device memory	256GB
Expandable Storage	✘ No
Main camera (rear)	50MP
Main Camera Resolution	not specified
video recording	not specified
Main Camera Aperture	not specified
focal length	not specified
Second image sensor	13 MP (ultra wide angle)
Third image sensor	✘ No
Fourth image sensor	✘ No
autofocus	✔ Yes
digital zoom	✔ Yes
flashlight	✔ Yes
front camera	32MP
cover	not specified
Second front camera	✘ No
Height	158.43mm
Broad	71.99mm
depth	7.49mm
Weight	171g
Display resolution	1080×2400 pixels
display diagonal	6.55 inches
display pixel density	402 ppi
display type	pOLED
SIM / memory card format, number of slots	Nano, 1
Dual SIM	✔ Yes
Bluetooth	✔ Yes
WiFi	✔ Yes
LTE	✔ Yes
5G	✔ Yes
GPRS	✔ Yes
HSDPA	✔ Yes
HSUPA	✔ Yes
EDGE	✔ Yes
GSM	✔ Yes
IrDA	✔ Yes
USB	✔ Yes
headphone jack	✘ No
Fingerprint scanner	✔ Yes
NFC	✔ Yes
GPS	✔ Yes
Glonass	not specified
BeiDou	not specified
compass	✔ Yes
radio	✘ No
accelerometer	✔ Yes
proximity sensor	✔ Yes
ambient light sensor	✔ Yes
second SIM physical	✘ No
eSIM as a second SIM	✔ Yes
App cloner pre-installed	✘ No
5G on both SIM cards	✔ Yes
Separate SIM and memory card slot	✘ No
Support for rSAP	not specified

Show all technical data❯