Motorola Edge 40 vs Edge 40 Pro. What is the difference?

The Motorola Edge 40 and Motorola Edge 40 Pro are the latest smartphones in Motorola’s expanding lineup, but what’s the difference between them?

There’s more than one mid-ranger and one flagship, with the smartphones sharing many similarities and a few key differences, including some you might not expect, such as the cheaper Edge 40 having a more capable main camera :

With that in mind, here are five key differences between the Motorola Edge 40 and the Motorola Edge 40 Pro to help you decide which one is best for your needs.

The Motorola Edge 40 has a better design

The design of the Motorola Edge 40 Pro is good, if a little dull, featuring the usual combination of aluminum and glass as the competition, and it’s available in rather muted shades of Interstellar Black and Lunar Blue.

Compared to the regular Edge 40, the Pro model looks surprisingly dated. That’s because the regular Edge 40 does a lot to set itself apart from the competition; it’s impressively thin and light at 7.6mm and 167g respectively, and that was immediately noticeable upon picking up the smartphone. It’s very nice and easy to use, despite the rather large 6.55-inch screen.

It’s not just that it’s thinner and lighter than its premium sibling; it’s available in vegan leather, which not only adds extra grip and eliminates fingerprints like its premium sibling, but the finish completely covers the camera housing with small cutouts for the lens, giving it a unique look in the wider smartphone market. .

It is also available in many more attractive color options including Nebula Green, Lunar Blue and Eclipse Black.

The Edge 40 Pro has a faster Snapdragon chipset

With the Edge 40 Pro now at the top of Motorola’s 2023 lineup, it’s no surprise that the smartphone is powered by Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset with a healthy 12GB of RAM and or 256. – or 512 GB of fast UFS 4.0 storage.

While we haven’t released the Edge 40 Pro’s benchmark results yet, we’re confident that its flagship performance is based on a number of Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-equipped smartphones we’ve used in 2023, including the OnePlus 11 and Xiaomi the 13 pro.

The Motorola Edge 40, on the other hand, has opted for a chipset from Qualcomm’s arch-rival MediaTek. More specifically, the mid-range model has a MediaTek Dimensity 8020 paired with 8GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of slightly slower UFS 3.1 storage.

Still, it’s a pretty capable mid-range chipset, which we found to be quite snappy in everyday use, although its slim design meant it was prone to overheating when playing demanding 3D titles.

So if performance is important to you, the Edge 40 Pro has the upper hand here.

The Motorola Edge 40’s main camera is faster and wider

The Motorola Edge 40 may not be Motorola’s best smartphone, but the flagship 50MP smartphone is not only unique in Motorola’s lineup, but also a smartphone with a wide aperture of an impressive f/1.4 in context. the flagship Edge 40 Pro has an f/1.8 aperture.

Not only does the wider aperture provide a significant improvement in low-light photography, but we’ve found that it will produce more natural bokeh in photos when Portrait mode isn’t active, enabling a prime lens. In fact, it shares the same 50MP resolution, 1/1.55in sensor, OIS and versatile PDAF as the Edge 40 Pro, making it the more capable lens of the two overall.

However, where the Edge 40 Pro shines is its companion rear lens; while the Edge 40 only has a 13MP ultra-wide lens, the Pro model has a higher-resolution 50MP ultra-wide and 12MP telephoto lenses with 2x zoom. So it’s a bit of a toss-up; you’ll get a better primary camera from the Edge 40, but better shooting capabilities from the Pro model.

The Edge 40 Pro has 125W fast charging

The Motorola Edge 40 charges at a fairly respectable 68W, which we found returned a 49% charge in 15 minutes and a full charge in 44 minutes, but that’s almost half the charging speed available on its Pro sibling.

That’s because the Motorola Edge 40 Pro has a 125W fast charging capability, which Motorola claims can provide a 50% charge in just 6 minutes. While we haven’t measured the Pro model yet, we’ve used 125W charging on the Xiaomi 13 Pro, and with a slightly smaller battery than Xiaomi’s flagship at 4600mAh, I expect it to be slightly faster. , than Xiaomi 13 Pro with 5000 mAh capacity. charge in 24 minutes.

The good news is that no matter which version you buy, a fast charger comes in the box.

The Edge 40 is much more budget friendly

To be fair to Motorola, the Edge 40 Pro is well priced for its features, with the entry-level 256GB model at £799/€899, but the same is true of the mid-range Motorola Edge 40, which starts at a fairly high price. a tempting £529 – a bit of a surprise given its 144Hz 6.55in OLED display, capable camera setup and fast charging.

If you’re tempted, you can buy both the Motorola Edge 40 Pro and the Motorola Edge 40 in the UK and Europe right now, although they don’t seem to be out of luck in the US right now.