Motorola
Motorola is launching even more midrange phones. The $499 Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) and the $399 Moto G 5G (2022) are both coming to the US in the next few weeks. Don’t confuse today’s $499 “Moto G Stylus 5G (2022)” with the $299 “Moto G Stylus (2022)“; the “non-5G” version was just announced in February and is not being replaced.
The $499 Moto G Stylus 5G is doing some work to differentiate itself, with a 120 Hz, 6.8-inch, 2460×1080 LCD as the main attraction. Just like the $282 OnePlus Nord N20, Motorola’s phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 SoC. This is a 6 nm chip with two 2.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A78 cores, six 1.7 GHz Cortex-A55 cores, and an Adreno 619 GPU. The Moto G Stylus 5G also has 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 5000 mAh battery.
Motorola
The Moto G Stylus 5G also has an NFC chip. No other midrange Motorola phones include NFC, so users are locked out of tap-and-pay functionality. This is one of the biggest problems with Motorola’s current midrange phone line.
There’s a side fingerprint reader, a USB-C port, a headphone jack, a microSD slot, and, of course, the namesake stylus. Motorola notes that the device has an unspecified “water-repellent design” that’s for splashes only, not submersion. Rear cameras include a 50 MP main sensor, an 8 MP wide-angle sensor, and a “Macro Vision 2 MP Depth Sensor.” The front camera is 16 MP.
The second option is the Moto G 5G, which will sell for $399. This phone has a 6.5-inch, 90 Hz, 1600×720 LCD and a MediaTek Dimensity 700. The SoC is very close to the Qualcomm 695, with two 2.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A78 cores and six 2 GHz Cortex-A55 cores built on a 7 nm process. The phone has 6GB of RAM, a surprisingly high 256GB of storage, and a 5000 mAh battery. As in other midrange Motorolas, there’s no NFC, but you get a side fingerprint reader, microSD slot, USB-C port, and that “water-repellent design.”
Motorola
In the US, both of these phones live in the same price range as the excellent $449 Pixel 5a (and probably the upcoming Pixel 6a), so they will be tough sells. Motorola is only promising one major update for both of these phones, and right now, they ship with Android 12. Part of what makes the Pixel A series so attractive is the included three years of Google’s day-one updates, so Motorola is hoping you’ll like the better raw specs compared to having a secure, up-to-date device.
The Moto G Stylus 5G hits stores on April 28, while the Moto G 5G will be out on May 19.
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