Motorola has announced the Edge 30, a scaled-down version of its more expensive Edge 30 Pro, will arrive in Europe for €449 (around $475) before hitting other markets in Asia and the Middle East later this year. North America isn’t on that list, but Motorola says the region will get another (unspecified) Edge family device later in the year.
The Motorola Edge 30 offers a smaller screen and slimmer build than the Edge 30 Pro. aka Edge Plus in North America. Its 6.5-inch 1080p OLED supports a fast 144Hz refresh rate, like the 30 Pro, but uses a Snapdragon 778 chipset that’s a step down from the 8 Gen 1 processor on the flagship. The rear cameras appear to have the same setup of a stabilized 50-megapixel f/1.8 depth sensor, 50-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. There’s a lower-resolution 32-megapixel selfie camera (compared to the 30 Pro’s 60-megapixel unit), and the rear camera’s video recording tops out at 4K rather than 8K.
The higher Edge Plus/Edge 30 Pro price of $999 in the US and €799 in Europe pits it against some very capable competitors like Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus, and it doesn’t really keep up. Swapping out a less expensive processor and cutting a few features here and there makes it a more tempting proposition at mid-range prices. But in the US, mid-range competition is also strong, dominated by, you guessed it, Samsung. If a version of the Edge 30 comes to the US, the price will have to be right to compete with the very good (and, at $449, good price) Galaxy A53 5G.