The first Snapdragon 870 smartphone is a mid-range Motorola

Today, the Motorola Edge S made its official debut as the world’s first Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 smartphone.

Aesthetically, it looks nothing like the company’s other Edge devices. While the Edge and Edge Plus featured a vertical camera array at the rear, the Edge S makes do with a cluster of four arranged in a square. Upfront, there’s are two prominent selfie camera cutouts in the top-left corner of the display. That 6.7-inch 2,520 x 1,080 LCD features a 90Hz refresh rate with support for HDR10. Colorways include a bright, shimmering silver variant or an equally shiny blue/purple option.

At the center of the device is the Snapdragon 870 chipset. It features similar specs to the Snapdragon 865 Plus of 2020, but does come with a buffed clock speed. It’s a slight improvement of 100MHz, but any gains might be felt by gamers and those running CPU-intensive tasks. The silicon includes at least 6GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage which should provide good support for the CPU, while 5G connectivity and Wi-Fi 6 also feature.

As for the imaging smarts, the Motorola Edge S is headlined by a 64MP f/1.7 primary camera joined by a 16MP 121-degree shooter, a 2MP sensor, and a ToF sensor. An Audio Zoom module also features at the rear to better pinpoint sounds while recording video. Upfront, selfie camera duties are pulled by a 16MP sensor and 8MP wide-angle shooter.

Other niceties include a built-in heart-rate monitor, a 5,000mAh battery, and a Dex-like desktop mode. Per the demo showcased by Motorola, the Edge S can be plugged into an external display via USB-C, paired to a keyboard and mouse, and employed as a pocket PC.

Motorola Edge S: Pricing and availability

For now, the phone is only available in China, and there’s no word on international availability. In an emailed response from Motorola, the firm told Android Authority that the “rest of the world” should “stay tuned” regarding a wider release.

As for the Chinese market, the phone will be offered from today with three RAM and storage variants. The cheapest option features 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and will cost 1,999 yuan (~$309). Want 2GB of additional RAM? That option will cost 2,399 yuan (~$370). Finally, the 8GB/256GB variant will be priced at 2,799 yuan (~$433), arguably making it the pick of the bunch.