It goes without saying that the Motorola Edge 70, released late last year, is a mighty impressive smartphone. That ultra-slim design, the Pantone-optimised camera, and a display that’s also matching professional grade screens, impressive foundational pieces. The new Motorola Edge 70 Pro, newest addition to that portfolio, is making more than an effort to live up to that ‘pro’ moniker. More than anything else, I’d say this marks another well-written chapter of phones priced under ₹40,000 that are more than good enough to be called “flagship alternatives”, though that phrasing seems out of vogue these days.
It steps up in the pricing stakes too, with prices starting ₹36,999. That puts the Motorola Edge 70 Pro in direct competition with the Samsung Galaxy A57, the OnePlus Nord 6 and the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro. It is important to mark the trajectory here, because this troika has significantly upped the generational game, underlined by better hardware and software. The more one uses the Edge 70 Pro, the more a layer of inspiration from the very impressive flagship Motorola Signature becomes clear—and that should add value, in the grand scheme of things.
The three key elements to the foundation that I mentioned, continue here as well, with more additions. The ultra-slim design (though the ‘Pro’ needs mean it’s not 6mm like the Edge 70, but 6.99mm) meets a larger 6,500mAh battery. The Pantone validated camera image processing for colours and skin tone, meets an equally capable 6.8-inch AMOLED display that can match the camera’s optimisations. The 4-nanometer architecture Mediatek Dimensity 8500 Extreme chip meets a large 6,500mAh battery, a combination of performance and battery stamina that seems more than adequately future proof from where I assess this today.
To be fair, the choice the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Extreme with the options of 8GB and 12GB memory (the suggestion would be the latter), holds up more than adequately against the Samsung Exynos 1680 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, while the OnePlus Nord 6 may have a perceptively more performance headroom with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. Unless you’re intent on comparing with synthetic benchmarks, real-world usage for the most part will not illustrate much difference in overall snappiness and fluidity (you’ve to factor software optimisation as well), but stretching multitasking surely will. The thing is, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro is a fairly future proof phone, perhaps only matched by the OnePlus Nord 6 in those stakes.
There is some heating on the back panel that’s quite noticeable when the Motorola Edge 70 Pro is strained (the North Indian summer afternoons made their presence felt after some sustained camera usage). This phone has a vapour cooling chamber, but its slightly more compact size compared with some rivals, is key to this observation. This has been seen on flagships as well in previous years in the peak summer months, and thermals won’t be a challenge either side of a heatwave. Unless you’re regularly gaming, of course. For regular users, the Motorola Edge 70 Pro will work just fine.
Motorola has made a curious choice with the cameras, when compared with the Edge 60 Pro, its predecessor. The Edge 70 Pro continues with a 50-megapixel wide and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, but the third of this troika isn’t a telephoto but a light sensor (the Edge 60 Pro had a 10-megapixel telephoto; a bit more photography versatility). The selfie camera is 50-megapixel too, which will be great news for video calls with friends and family. That sensor choice aside, the overall optimisation and positioning of the camera return very likable photos. The colours and overall tonality have a role to play, and personal preferences will play a part.
This would be, in my opinion, far ahead of the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro and in the same ballpark as the OnePlus Nord 6 for daytime photos—the Motorola Edge 70 Pro does have an advantage with better contrast though, and that helps everything in the frame look better, richer and more dynamic. Low-light photos is where the Motorola Edge 70 Pro takes a more pronounced lead over its rivals, and it must be the light sensor that’s contributing to this difference—results are crisper, less noise around subjects and looking at a light source doesn’t lead to a photo ruining flare.
The slimness of the Motorola Edge 70 Pro means the 6,500mAh battery isn’t the highest capacity in this price band (the Nord 6 has a 9,000mAh battery) but still more than the others. That itself is no mean feat by Motorola’s engineers and designers. Fairly stable and acceptable real world stamina as well, close to 6 hours and 15 minutes of active screen time, before you must plug this in. That is a 90-watt charging pace, fast enough for a quick splash and dash before heading out for the next meeting.
Even before Motorola’s latest spec stack with the Edge 70 and now the Edge 70 Pro stepped into the limelight, there have always been advantages of the clean Android experience (most other phone makers can only come this close, because revenue streams take centerstage later). The Motorola Edge 70 Pro has had to withstand the test of the current time, with that extra bill of materials costs towards memory and storage, meaning there is no wireless charging or a light sensor instead of a telephoto.
That said, the core experience built atop a very capable Dimensity 8500 Extreme chip, a consistent 6,500mAh battery, and an optimised display, leaves nothing to chance. There is just the right amount of AI processing for photos and videos, some interesting editing options, and relevant Moto AI features you’ll find useful from time to time. Between the Pantone Lily White, Pantone Tea and Pantone Titan colour options (somehow, the Pantone badge of honour is missing on the back panel), it’s difficult to pick a favourite because all three look nice. And that, in a way explains the Motorola Edge 70 Pro most succinctly—there is a lot to like about this phone.