Motorola Edge (2026) vs Edge (2021)
67
out of 100
VS
50
out of 100
Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.3-inch Motorola Edge (2026) (with MediaTek Dimensity 7450) that was released on June 2, 2026, against the Motorola Edge (2021), which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G and came out 4 years and 11 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Motorola Edge (2026)
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
- Optical image stabilization
- Waterproof body (IP69 classification)
- Supports higher wattage charging (68W versus 30W)
- The phone is 4 years and 11 months newer
- More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 12
- 19% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (979K versus 825K)
- 17% higher pixel density (461 vs 395 PPI)
- AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
Reasons to consider the Motorola Edge (2021)
- Higher display refresh rate β 144 Hz
- Has a 0.5 inch larger screen size
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | IPS LCD |
| Size | 6.3 inches | 6.8 inches |
| Resolution | 1216 x 2640 pixels | 1080 x 2460 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 461 ppi | 395 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 144 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes | No |
| Max rated brightness | - | 450 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 5200 nits | 650 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, HDR10 |
| Touch sampling rate | - | 600 Hz |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 7i | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 88.9% | 87.4% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 |
Screen space comparison
Edge (2021)
6.8β³ (20:9 ratio) = 17.3 in2
Edge (2026)
6.3β³ (19.5:9 ratio) = 15.1 in2
~14% more screen space
Design and build
| Height | 152.3 mm (6 inches) | 169 mm (6.65 inches) |
| Width | 72 mm (2.83 inches) | 75.6 mm (2.98 inches) |
| Thickness | 7.2 mm (0.28 inches) | 9 mm (0.35 inches) |
| Weight | 160.5 g (5.66 oz) | 200 g (7.05 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP69 | IP52 |
| Rear material | Eco-leather | Plastic |
| Frame material | Plastic | Metal |
| Colors | Green | Blue |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-button |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | MediaTek Dimensity 7450 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G |
| Max clock | 2500 MHz | 2400 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 4 cores at 2.6 GHz: Cortex-A78 |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 3 cores at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 670 Prime (Cortex-A78) |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | - |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 6 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | MediaTek APU 655 | Hexagon 770 |
| Graphics | Mali-G615 MP2 | Adreno 642L |
| GPU shading units | 256 | 512 |
| GPU clock | 1300 MHz | 550 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~665.6 GFLOPS | ~563.2 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 3132 | 2112 |
| Single-core score | 1075 | 1017 |
| Multi-core score | 3080 | 2943 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 345028 | 322720 |
| GPU | 150583 | 95314 |
| Memory | 193105 | 168073 |
| UX | 291092 | 239803 |
| Total score | 979808 | 825910 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Graphics test | - | 2 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 225 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 99% |
| Graphics test | - | 4 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 680 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 13011 |
| Video editing | - | 7623 |
| Photo editing | - | 27998 |
| Data manipulation | - | 11425 |
| Writing score | - | 15638 |
Recent User Tests
Motorola Edge (2026)
No benchmark results yet
Motorola Edge (2021)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-11-11 -> Beyonder-editz | AnTuTu 12 | 931002 |
| π 2026-11-11 -> Beyonder-editz | Geekbench 7 GPU | 1419 |
| π 2026-11-11 -> Beyonder-editz | Geekbench 7 CPU | 883 / 3081 |
| π 2025-11-06 -> Beyonder-editz | Geekbench 6 GPU | 2112 |
| π 2025-11-06 -> Beyonder-editz | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1008 / 2930 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.2 | - |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 16 | Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) |
| OS updates | 3 years | - |
| Security updates | 4 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 5000 mAh |
| Max charge power | 68 W | 30 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (15 W) | No |
| Reverse charging | No | No |
| Bypass charging | No | - |
| Fast charging | Yes (77% in 30 min) | Yes (60% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:42 hr | 1:25 hr |
Main camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 108 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 12032 x 9204 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3x | Digital |
| Flash | LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 240 FPS (1080p) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 122Β° | 119Β° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 10 MP 3) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
1) Standard: 108 MP 2) Ultrawide: 8 MP 3) Depth: 2 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 108 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 24 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | - | Samsung S5KHM2 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (β 0.64 inch) | 1/1.52" (β 0.66 inch) |
| Pixel size | - | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| Image resolution | 10 MP | - |
| Focal length | 73 mm | - |
| Sensor size | 1/3.94" (β 0.25 inch) | - |
| Stabilization | Optical | - |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 12 mm | - |
| Pixel size | - | 1.12 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 50 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 6528 x 4896 |
| Aperture | f/2.0 | f/2.3 |
| Sensor | - | CMOS |
| Pixel size | - | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 30 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode |
| DisplayPort | No | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC, SBAS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | No | No |
| Number of SIM* | 1 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | - |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | June 2026 | August 2021 |
| Release date | June 2026 | September 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $599 | $600 |
| Successor | - | - Motorola Edge (2026) |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Not included | Yes, 30 W |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Motorola Edge (2026) is definitely a better buy.
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Total votes: < 1