New Motorola Edge coming to North America, priced at just $500

Motorola will soon be launching a new iteration of its mid-range Motorola Edge smartphone in the US and Canada with some solid hardware specs. The new Motorola Edge includes a big screen, battery, and main camera, and for a limited time, you will be able to buy it unlocked for just $499.99.

Before you ask: Yes, this new Motorola Edge is in the same family of phones as the company’s Motorola Edge 20 handsets. Those phones launched in other parts of the world earlier this summer. However, this new phone was made strictly for the North American market and differs from the other Edge phones in some respects.

Hands-on: Motorola Edge (2021) first impressions

The new Edge includes a flat 6.8-inch LCD display, with a high 144hz refresh rate and support for HDR10 video. Inside, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor, with support for 5G Sub-6GHz and mmWave networks. The phone will be sold in North America, unlocked with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. However, some retail locations could sell the phone with a 6GB RAM/128GB storage configuration. There will be no way to expand the phone’s storage, however.

Solid (on paper) camera and other features

The phone’s three rear camera sensors will be led by a main 108MP camera. Motorola says it will use Ultra Pixel technology to combine every nine pixels into one 2.1μm ultra pixel. This is supposed to improve images taken in low light conditions by up to nine times. There’s also an 8MP 119-degree ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP depth sensor. The front-facing camera has a 32MP sensor that will use AI tools to allow for better selfie images in low-light conditions.

Read more: Best Motorola phones

Some of the phone’s photo software features include Dual Capture, which will allow users to take rear and selfie photos at the same time. It will also support slow-motion video clips at up to four times slower than previous Motorola phones. Videos can also use Audio Zoom features, which will filter out any ambient sounds so the subject of your video gets the most attention.

The battery will be pretty big  too, at 5,000mAh. The company claims the new Motorola Edge should last up to two days on a single charge. Unfortunately, there’s no wireless charging here, but it will support fast wired charging with its 30W Turbo Power feature. A charger with that support will be included in the box, which is a pretty big deal considering more phone makers are opting to remove included chargers from their handsets. 

Motorola Edge will get better software updates

While the phone will ship with the nearly year-old Android 11, the company says this new Motorola Edge will get at least two major OS updates, so you can expect to get Android 12 and Android 13 at some point. The phone will also get bi-monthly security updates for two years.

Pre-sales for the Motorola Edge start in the US on August 23, with sales beginning officially on September 2. The phone will be available unlocked on Motorola’s website and other retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and B&HPhoto. For a limited time, the unlocked phone’s price will be just $499.99, which is $200 lower than its normal $699.99 price tag. There’s no word on when exactly this promotion will end.

The phone will also be sold via Verizon and Spectrum Mobile in the coming weeks. Sales will begin in Canada sometime in the coming months.