Is the Moto X50 Ultra the flagship that will finally challenge the Galaxies and iPhones?

Is the Moto X50 Ultra the flagship that will finally challenge the Galaxies and iPhones?،

*Header image: Motorola Moto Edge 40 Pro

Once upon a time, Motorola phones were on top of the world. But those days are now long gone and Motorola is more present in the economic and mid-range segment, rarely managing to compete with the big players in the smartphone market: Apples and Oranges… sorry, Samsung.

But a recent teaser of the upcoming Moto X50 Ultra (or the Motorola Edge+ 2024 or the Moto Edge 50 Pro – same name, different markets, most likely) has me excited. Could it be that Moto is ready to compete with the big players again? Could Moto's happy new year 2023 be a sign that we'll have a third player at the top of the smartphone scene? Let's talk about it !

What could the Moto X50 Ultra have, compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone?

A recent teaser for the phone, focusing on speed and AI improvements, looks very promising for the phone's performance. The Moto X50 Pro is rumored to sport the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which is undoubtedly a flagship processor: fast and very capable. The chip is fully capable of competing with the S24 Ultra, which sports the same chip. THE iPhone 16 Pro Max, who could be the other contender, is still months away from being revealed. Its predecessor, however, is Apple's current competitor and has the A17 Pro Bionic chip.

This is how the Snapdragon 8 generation 3 in the Galaxy works against the iPhone. We expect it to be the same Snapdragon 8 generation 3 performance of the Motorcycle if it is delivered with the chip:

So, performance is mostly covered. Of course, we have other aspects of a phone's performance – mainly software, and we hope Motorola has given that department some love. But leaks are rare about this, so we'll see when the phone hits the market.

Battery life is another important aspect of a flagship. The Moto This is something the Galaxy and iPhone don't have. Its predecessor also had incredibly fast charging, and its battery (4,600 mAh) performed very well when playing YouTube.

And AI: the hot trend, check

Generative AI seems to be the trend this year with smartphones (we'll see what Apple does and if it will take this trend train), and Moto is rising to the challenge. The teaser video doesn't specify exactly what AI features we'll have, but just the fact that the company is going for it makes me think it's really aiming to play with the big guys.

Excerpt from the Moto X50 Ultra teaser

Now let's discuss the main areas where Moto needs to work to become a better competitor:

Cameras – mainly zoom needs work and colors

Cameras are another important aspect of a flagship phone. The S24 Ultra has now gotten much better with cameras thanks to new image processing capabilities. The iPhone should not be underestimated either.

As for Motorola's competitor, we haven't heard about any cameras yet. The company's flagship from last year sports a quite capable 50 MP main camera, a 50 MP ultra-wide, and a 12 MP 2x zoom camera. The phone does quite well with daylight shots, although it seems to lack some dynamic range (shadows aren't as dark as they should be) and performs very well in portrait mode. Zooming requires a bit of work though.

So if Moto is truly aiming to take on the big guys, it definitely needs to feature some camera improvements.

The Elephant in the Room: Software Updates

Nowadays, a flagship product can't really do without longevity, and that's what Apple and Samsung are currently offering their customers. The Edge 40 Pro (the predecessor) came with 3 years of very disappointing software updates. A very bleak situation compared to the 7 (!!!) offered by Apple and Samsung. So, Moto, I hope you are reading this and have prepared more software updates for the X50 Ultra!

Moto's success in 2023 and the road to flagship status

Moto had a fairly promising year in 2023. In fact, the company had a very strong fourth quarter of 2023 and became the fourth largest phone manufacturer in Europe, with shipments growing 73% compared to last year. But many people still go to Moto because they just need a phone, not because they want a fancy phone experience.

Is the Moto X50 Ultra the flagship that will finally challenge Galaxies and iPhones?

Anchor buyers are a different audience. They want to be impressed, they want the latest and greatest (as they should, given the high price of flagship phones!) and Moto will have to deliver on that if it wants more people to opt for its flagships.

We have a powerful chip, AI and the promise of a high-performance product. Will that be enough to grab the attention of flagship phone buyers?

Moto's story: Has Moto finally learned her lesson?

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro

Motorola, as a company, has quite a long history, and it started way before smartphones (come on, technically, the company was founded a century ago – in 1928!) In 1993, Motorola represented more than half of the mobile phone market. .

And when the smartphone era began, Moto was in a great position to meet expectations, but it really isn't. While the specific reasons why Motorola hasn't become a flagship brand are vague, a brief analysis shows that the company has somewhat… well, missed the point of smartphones.

In 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone and fundamentally changed the world. It all depended on the capabilities of the computer, while the telephone capabilities of the device came in second. This seems to be what Motorola has always lacked: they continued to make phones when everyone wanted a handheld that also happened to be a phone. And the situation persisted, without Motorola really being able to change course.

Now, with this new Moto phone and the focus on AI, we may finally be seeing the change that was needed 15 years ago. It looks like Moto is catching up with what we need our phones to do. To some it may seem like AI is just a gimmick, and I won't discuss AI here, but what I mean is the focus: now Moto is focusing on this what the “phone” can do in addition to… create calls.

Even if this lesson lasts 15 years, if Moto can finally learn it, we might have more (useful) competition in the flagship market. And, as you probably already imagine: competition drives innovation. And we need innovation more than ever in this flagship market. Let's hope that Moto will rise to the challenge.