Motorola Edge 40 Pro review

Motorola lost its rep for flagship phones a few years back, but in recent months the company – now owned by Chinese computer giant Lenovo – has come back swinging.  

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro continues that trend. In both specs and price it’s closer to last year’s Edge 30 Ultra than to its Pro predecessor, and the £799 phone is a true flagship that can go toe-to-toe with high-end handsets from Samsung, Apple, and others. 

Thanks to a super-fast 165Hz refresh rate display and the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, this could be an especially tempting option for gamers on the go who don’t love the look of proper gaming phones, but don’t want to skimp on specs. 

Design & build 

• Sleek, minimalist design 
• Gorilla Glass Victus 
• IP68 rating 

Motorola has establish a firm, albeit simple, design language over the last year or two, and the Edge 40 Pro doesn’t stray too far from it.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Available in a black or blue finish, this is a sleek slab of curved glass. At 8.6mm thick and 199g this is relatively slim and lightweight for its size, though there are lighter and more compact flagships around if that’s your priority. 

With a small ‘M’ logo and a compact camera module on the rear this is an understated design, ideal for those who don’t need their phone to be snazzy or actively prefer a professional aesthetic.  

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The matt glass is smooth and satin-y to the touch, and with Gorilla Glass Victus on both the front and back this should be tough enough to survive falls and avoid scratches. It’s not immune, of course – I’ve already picked up one scratch in my week with the phone – and you may want to invest in a screen protector, as unusually there isn’t one included in the box (though a simple transparent protective case is). 

Motorola has also invested in an IP68 rating, which verifies that the phone should be safe from both dust and water – another practical appeal. 

Screen & speakers 

• Unusually fast 165Hz refresh rate 
• 6.67in quad-curved OLED display 
• Muted colours 

The display is one of the key appeals of the Edge 40 Pro, and on paper its standout feature, though in practice it might not make a difference to most users. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

At Full HD+ it’s not especially high resolution, and nor is the 1300 nits peak brightness about to set any records. But with a 165Hz refresh rate, this is the fastest display you’ll find outside of a gaming phone – and faster even than plenty of those. 

That means the Edge 40 Pro can drive silky smooth animations and fast frame rates, so long as the content can keep up. I’ll be frank though: if you’re not a gamer, you’re unlikely to be able to tell the difference from the 120Hz panels common in other flagships. And even if you are a gamer, few mobile games run fast enough to take advantage of the display spec anyway. 

My bigger frustration with the display is really down to the software side. Out of the box I found colours strangely muted and bland, but beyond this ‘Natural’ colour profile the only other option is an aggressive ‘Saturated’ palette that goes too far in the other direction. Neither looks quite right, and I wish Motorola provided more options to help users tune the screen to suit their taste. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

To end on a positive note, I do love the quad-curvature of the glass. Steeper curves to the left and right are matched by a more subtle effect on the top and bottom. The overall effect is a phone that feels slick, looks great, and is always comfortable to swipe on and hold, with nary a sharp edge in sight. 

Finally, a quick note on audio: the phone packs stereo speakers bolstered by Dolby Atmos support. At full volume these are unexpectedly punchy, if a little thin and tinny, and among the better phone speakers I’ve tested recently. 

Specs & performance 

• Top-tier Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip 
• 12GB RAM and lots of storage 

Motorola has kitted the Edge 40 Pro out with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Right now that’s the most powerful chip you can get in an Android phone, so it’s safe to say that the phone is pretty capable. 

It’s paired with a generous default allowance of 12GB RAM, along with 256GB of storage in my UK review unit – though in some markets it will ship with 512GB instead. 

Benchmark results reflect the pedigree. In the CPU-heavy Geekbench 5 test the phone gets strong marks, though curiously lags slightly behind other 8 Gen 2 phones such as the OnePlus 11 and Samsung Galaxy S23 (which admittedly benefits from some exclusive overclocking). 

In the graphics-based GFXBench tests this gap falls away however, and indeed the Edge 40 Pro outpaces its rivals in its ability to drive super-high frame rates in less demanding tests – the perk of that 165Hz screen. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Outside core specs, you can expect 5G support, Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6E – with support built in for the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard. NFC is also included for contactless payments, though it’s worth noting I’ve found the NFC detection slightly unreliable, and on one occasion it failed for me entirely. 

Biometrics include a pretty snappy fingerprint sensor built into the screen itself, plus an option for face unlock using the regular selfie camera. 

Camera & video 

• Triple rear camera 
• 2x telephoto, but no long zoom 
• Super high-res 60Mp selfie 

The Edge 40 Pro packs a strong – but not market-leading – camera setup. 

Let’s start on the back. Here you’ll find three cameras: a main camera and ultrawide, both 50Mp, plus a 12Mp telephoto. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The main camera is the only one of the three to boast optical image stabilisation (OIS) and despite the matching resolution it uses a different sensor to the ultrawide lens – though Motorola hasn’t named either. 

Results are generally impressive, with sharp detail and bright colours – albeit perhaps a little over-saturated. Low-light shots aren’t bad, but you can definitely get better at this price by buying a Google, Samsung, or Apple phone. 

The ultrawide offers a very slight drop in quality, but not by much. Colours are tuned pleasingly similarly to the main camera, and in good light the lenses are a close match – it’s only in the details and the dark spots that you’ll find the ultrawide lagging behind. This lens also doubles as a macro camera, with decent if not exceptional results.

Then there’s the telephoto. At 12Mp this is much lower resolution than the others, and shoots at 2x zoom. That means this isn’t a lens designed for ultra zoomed in shots of distant buildings, but instead offers a comfortable frame for portraits and similar shots.  

Colours are a little more washed out from the telephoto camera, and at times there’s a smeary softness to shots. It isn’t a bad camera by any means, and it’s good enough for the ‘Gram, but you will again be able to find better elsewhere. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

If anything it’s the selfie camera that does the most to recommend the Edge 40 Pro over rival phones. This 60Mp front-facing camera is unusually detailed, and is capable of some really pleasing photos whether using standard settings or the Portrait mode. 

As for video, you can shoot at up to 8K quality in 30fps on the rear cameras or 4K at a higher 60fps, with the OIS on the main lens contributing to stable and smooth footage. Despite the higher resolution, the front-facing camera is capped at 4K and 30fps. 

Battery & charging 

• All-day battery life 
• Fast wired & slow wireless charging 
• Cable concerns 

With a 4600mAh battery inside, it’s no surprise that the Edge 40 Pro has comfortably lasted all day during my testing, and usually with a little to spare. 

This definitely isn’t a two-day phone unless you’re an especially light user, but most people should be able to use the phone from alarm clock to bedtime without undue concerns about getting to a charger. 

And when you do need to get to a charger, things should be fast – in theory. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

The Edge 40 Pro is equipped with 125W wired charging, which could charge the phone to full in just 23 minutes. I say ‘could’ because I haven’t been able to test it myself. 

My review unit shipped with a defective charging cable, which won’t charge the phone at all. That’s a bit of a worry for quality control, though hopefully the issue isn’t widespread. 

I’ve been able to charge the phone using a USB-C-to-C cable from another manufacturer, but without the official cable the full 125W speeds won’t trigger, meaning I’ve only been enjoying comparatively slower charging – returning just 45% of the battery in half an hour. That means I can’t verify just how fast the Edge 40 Pro really charges, or whether you might suffer the same cable problems that I have. 

The good news is that the phone also supports wireless charging. This is much slower at just 15W, but that’s as fast as most third-party Qi chargers go in any case. 

Software & updates 

• Clean and simple Android skin 
• A few pre-installed bits of bloatware 
• Three major OS updates promised 

The Edge 40 Pro ships with Android 13, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

See also  Apple Watch Series 9 Review

Motorola runs a relatively stripped-back version of Android, adding less guff on top than some other manufacturers do. 

Most of those additions are welcome, such as interactive notification icons on the always-on display, or the company’s long-standing array of clever gesture controls (among the few out there that really are worth using). 

There are downsides. The default system font is ugly and inserts itself across apps including WhatsApp; at times the OS is strangely inflexible, such as having no option for more than four app columns on the home screen; and bloatware is increasing, with an array of unwelcome Motorola apps and even a spammy looking game called Word Trip pre-installed. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Motorola has at least improved its promise on software support. The Edge 40 Pro will apparently receive three major OS updates – meaning Android 14, 15, and 16 – with four years of security patches. That’s still less support than Samsung and some other rivals promise, but it at least means you can feel confident using the phone for a few years. 

Price & availability 

The Edge 40 Pro is out now in the UK and Europe, where it costs £799/€899. For the moment, there are no confirmed plans for a US launch. 

In the UK you can pick it up direct from Motorola or grab it from Amazon. It’s still unclear which, if any, networks will range it. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

That price puts the Pro firmly in flagship territory. It’s more than last year’s Edge 30 Pro cost, and in fact closer to the £749/€899 Edge 30 Ultra.  

Close rivals include the standard Samsung Galaxy S23 and iPhone 14, the OnePlus 11, or the Google Pixel 7 Pro. The Motorola beats all of those on its display specs and fast charging, though realistically lags behind them all on photographic prowess. 

Check out our full ranking of the best phones and best Android phones for more comparisons, or our dedicated guide to the best Motorola phones to see how it stacks up against the brand’s other options. 

Verdict 

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro is an excellent option in the flagship space for those whose focus is on power and performance – but it’s likely to be less appealing to the rest of us. 

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, generous 12GB RAM, and lightning-fast 165Hz display make this a surprisingly compelling option for gamers and power users, especially since all that power comes in a svelte, lightweight package. 

The camera is the biggest drawback. Not because it’s bad – far from it – but because at this price point its competition is excellent. If you’re focussed on photography this won’t be the phone for you, but if you just need your camera to be good enough for Instagram then this fits the bill. 

Specs 

• 6.7in, FHD+, 165Hz pOLED display 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 
• 12GB RAM 
• 256/512GB storage 
• 4600mAh battery 
• 125W wired charging 
• 15W wireless charging 
• Cameras: 
  • 50Mp, f/1.8 OIS main camera 
  • 50Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide camera 
  • 12Mp, f/1.6 2x telephoto camera 
  • 60Mp, f/2.2 selfie camera 
• Gorilla Glass Victus 
• IP68 
• 161.2 x 74 x 8.6mm 
• 199g 
• Android 13