Following the hype surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and iPhone Air, Motorola has unveiled its ultrathin smartphone alternative, the Edge 70 – and I think Motorola could be onto a winner here.
The Edge 70 ticks all the ultra-slim boxes – it’s under 6mm thick, weighs less than 160g, and offers a premium, stylish look – while offering serious upgrades, particularly in the battery department, that help address early slimline phone complaints.
Crucially, it’s also much more affordable than the competitors, with a price that feels more in line with the experience on offer. Essentially, I think the Edge 70 is the right way to do an ultrathin phone. Let me explain.
Lightweight, slim and stylish
The Motorola Edge 70 makes a great first impression. Pick it up and you immediately notice just how thin and light the phone is, measuring in at just 5.9mm thick and 159g.
Yes, it’s not the thinnest phone – that’d go to the 5.6mm iPhone Air – but I’ve put the two side-by-side and, honestly, there’s no noticeable difference here at all. We’re literally talking about 0.3mm, after all – and the Edge 70 is actually the lighter of the two at 159g, compared to Apple’s 165g.
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That means that, like the iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, it’s an absolute treat to use on a day-to-day basis. The weight of the phone belies the spacious 6.7-inch screen, and its even balance means it never feels top-heavy.
It’s a treat to slip into the pocket, and over the past few days, there have been several occasions where I thought I’d left the phone behind because I couldn’t feel it against my leg.
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More generally though, the Edge 70 is a super-stylish phone with a textile-inspired woven finish on the rear that provides great purchase – and I’m a big fan of the Pantone-certified finishes, including Gadget Grey, Lily Pad and the Bronze Green variant provided for review.
The combination of that gorgeous shade of green and the golden brushed aluminium midframe from the Bronze Green colourway work very well together, indeed.
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And, despite the ultrathin dimensions of Motorola’s latest smartphone, it offers a combination of MIL-STD-810H certification and IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance, along with Gorilla Glass 7i display protection.
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While I’m not quite brave enough to put my sample through a durability test – best left to JerryRigEverything – it feels reassuringly solid in the hand, with no flex or creaking. It’s solid, that’s for sure.
So, the Edge 70 really does tick all the boxes for what an ultrathin should look and feel like – but it’s what it packs within that makes it truly stand out.
Ultrathin, without the usual compromises
As we’ve seen from the likes of the iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, there’s a clear compromise when it comes to ultrathin phones: battery life.
At 3149mAh and 3900mAh respectively, the batteries aren’t exactly in line with what you’d expect from a big-screen phone – and Apple even sells a slimline MagSafe charging pack to help aid this in this respect.
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The problem is that Apple and Samsung have stuck to the older lithium-ion battery tech. Motorola, however, has done what I’ve been begging for for months; used the higher-density silicon carbon battery tech.
It’s tech that’s already utilised by many Chinese manufacturers like Oppo, helping deliver that massive 7500mAh cell in the Oppo Find X9 Pro, but most western manufacturers have shied away from the tech – until now.
That means that the Edge 70, despite its ultrathin dimensions, packs a 4800mAh battery – just shy of the 5000mAh we see from 2025 flagships like the (much thicker and heavier) Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
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Motorola claims it’s good for up to 50 hours of use, and while I’ve not made it stretch to the two-day mark so far, it’s comfortably a one-day phone – much more so than the Edge and Air.
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That’s paired with a dual 50MP camera setup on the rear, comprised of primary and ultrawide lenses – that’s more than you can say for the single-camera iPhone Air – along with a matching 50MP selfie snapper.
It also packs a 6.7-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a super-bright 4500nits peak brightness, so yes, there’s very little compromise here.
Not a flagship chipset, but it doesn’t matter
The one area where the Motorola Edge 70 doesn’t quite stack up to the S25 Edge and iPhone Air is in the processing department. The iPhone Air features the same top-end A19 Pro chipset as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, while the Galaxy S25 Edge packs the equally premium Snapdragon 8 Elite.
The Motorola Edge 70? That features the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 – but honestly, it doesn’t actually matter.
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Yes, the Galaxy and iPhone can theoretically offer much better performance with more powerful chipsets – but neither does in reality. It all comes down to thermals, and with such a thin chassis, both suffer from throttling issues when pushed to the absolute limits – like when playing games or trying to export 4K video.
The Motorola, with a slightly less powerful chipset – although one that offers a 27% increase in CPU performance, a 30% boost to CPU, and a 65% better NPU compared to the Edge 60 – offers similar real-world performance.
Apps and games still load rapidly, and there’s no hint of stutter or lag throughout. For most people, this is more than enough, and it’s a much more suitable chipset for the ultrathin design. Yes, it’s not quite as technically impressive as those flagship chips, but if you really want sustained top-end performance, you’d best look at a gaming phone.
A much more suitable price tag
Most importantly, the lack of a top-end chipset that’s not really needed has allowed Motorola to keep the price down – and compared to the other ultrathin phones that come in at around £1000/$1000, it’s way down.
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The Motorola Edge 70 starts at just £699. Six hundred and ninety-nine pounds, for an excellent ultrathin phone with better battery life than those that cost £300 more. That makes it a much more tempting proposition, right out of the gate.
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That price just feels right for an ultrathin phone, because, let’s be honest, ultrathin phones aren’t true flagships. There are compromises not only in terms of battery life (Motorola aside, that is!) but also in other crucial elements like camera tech and performance compared to other top-end phones.
At £699, however, those compromises become easier to swallow. After all, compromise is the name of the game in the mid-range phone market – and Motorola’s Edge 70 makes a particularly compelling argument for those tempted by ultrathin design without the associated cost.
