Motorola unveils Edge (2021) flagship headed to Canada ‘soon’

Motorola announced its next flagship device headed to North America: the Motorola Edge (2021).

A successor to last year’s Motorola Edge and Edge+ (of which only the Edge+ came to Canada), the Edge (2021) is an interesting, if odd, device. It’s very similar to the 2020 Edge+, but also quite different. For one, the Edge (2021) ditches the premium 800-series Snapdragon chipset for a Snapdragon 778G. However, the Edge (2021) sports a very similar main rear camera, but trades off the secondary cameras for worse sensors.

Where the Edge+ was clearly meant to be a high-end, premium flagship that competed directly with Samsung’s top-line smartphones, the Edge (2021) feels more like it straddles the line between mid-range and high-end. In fact, the Edge (2021) seems to be a mix of 2020’s Edge and Edge+.

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it remains to be seen if the trade-offs (and resulting price drop) work out to a better phone for your money.

Speaking of price, Motorola confirmed the Edge (2021) will be available in Canada “in the coming months,” but didn’t share any details about price. However, Motorola did mention that the phone would be available with Rogers, Freedom Mobile and other Canadian carriers.

In the U.S., the Edge (2021) will cost $699.99 (about $884.68 CAD) but with a limited-time, introductory discount of $200, making it just $499.99 (or $631.91 CAD). The phone will be available in the U.S. starting September 2nd, with pre-orders opening on August 23rd.

Decent specs, two OS upgrades and more

With that out of the way, let’s dig into the specs to see what you get for your money. The Motorola Edge (2021) offers either 6 or 8GB of RAM, 128 or 256GB of storage, a 5,000mAh battery and a 6.8-inch FHD+ LCD display with a 144Hz refresh rate. Despite keeping the ‘Edge’ name, Motorola ditched the edge display this time around, with the Edge (2021) offering a flat panel. Some may dislike the move, but I had several issues with the curved edges on the Edge+. Thanks to the 778G, the phone also boasts support for Sub-6 and mmWave 5G.

The Edge (2021) comes with a charger in the box and supports 30W TurboPower charging. The phone is IP52 water-resistant and runs Android 11 out of the box. Motorola promised at least two major OS upgrades (so the 2021 Edge should get Android 12 and 13) and two years of security updates. That’s certainly not great by current standards, but definitely better than what Motorola promised for the Edge+ at launch (to be fair, the company was quickly bullied into offering longer software support for the phone).

Speaking of software, Motorola also confirmed that its ‘My UX’ experience would ship on the Edge (2021). It offers a combination of theme customizations (nearly identical to what Pixel phones offered in Android 11) and several other features via a Motorola app, such as the twist gesture to launch the camera.

Camera could be good

Motorola also spent time highlighting the camera on the Edge (2021). As I mentioned up top, the camera seems fairly similar to last year’s Edge+ with a few cost-saving downgrades. I’ll be interested to see how it performs in real-world testing, but I’m not getting my hopes up. I wasn’t a fan of the Edge+ camera, and given that the Edge (2021) hardware is at best the same and in most cases worse, I expect it’ll be a similar story this time around.

First, the main rear camera offers a 108-megapixel shooter, just like last year. It’s also got a 1/1.52-inch optical format, f/1.9 aperture, 0.7µm pixel size and uses what Motorola calls ‘Ultra Pixel’ tech, which is a fancy way of saying the Edge (2021) combines nine pixels into one to improve low-light performance. There’s also an ‘Ultra-res’ mode that will let users take full 108-megapixel photos.

Next up is an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 119-degree field of view (FOV). It also has Macro Vision if you want to take close-up shots, an f/2.2 aperture and a 1.12µm pixel size. Finally, the third camera is a 2-megapixel depth camera with an f/2.4 aperture and 1.12µm pixel size.

Around the front is a 32-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.25 aperture, 0.7µm pixel size and ‘Quad Pixel’ tech, which is similar to Ultra Pixel tech but combines four pixels into one instead. The selfie camera is an improvement over the Edge+ on paper, but it remains to be seen how it performs in real-world testing.

Ultimately, the Edge (2021) looks like it could be a decent phone. On paper, it looks like a promising device that maintains a lot of what made the Edge+ good, while also cutting a few areas to keep the price down. That said, I’m worried the price might still be too high in Canada, especially if the camera experience is subpar again this year.

Of course, we’ll have to wait for a full review of the Edge (2021) to know whether it offers better value this year. Keep your eyes on MobileSyrup for a review and more about the Canadian launch of the Edge (2021).