Intro
Motorola announced its new premium Edge series recently, and while we wait for the flagship Edge 50 Ultra to go on sale, we thought it might be fun to compare the mid-range Motorola Edge 50 Pro and the beast that is Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra.Of course, we are talking about two completely different price points here, with the Edge 50 Pro going for €699 and the S24 Ultra with a €1,569 price tag for the same amount of storage and RAM. You can literally buy two Motorola Edge 50 Pros for the price of one S24 Ultra.
What we found out in comparing these two phones, however, is that they are closer to each other in some areas than one would initially suspect given the price difference. You will know which "areas" we are referring to once you go through all of the sections below.
One crucial detail to note here is that Motorola is yet to announce any US variant of the Edge 50 Pro, or any of the other Edge 50 models for that matter. On the other hand, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, as well as the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus are all available worldwide.| Motorola Edge 50 Pro | Galaxy S24 Ultra |
|---|---|
| Thinner, with curved edges and corners | Blocky design; thicker, wider, and heavier body |
| Silicon/acetate back panel and aluminum frame | Glass back panel and titanium frame |
| Curved-edge display with higher 144Hz refresh rate | A more power-efficient and higher-resolution flat display with anti-reflective properties |
| Triple camera system at the back with a 3X zoom telephoto | Four cameras at the back with an additional 5X zoom telephoto camera |
| Slower memory and storage speeds | Faster and more power-efficient memory and storage |
| No stylus | Comes with an integrated stylus |
| Fast wired and wireless charging | Significantly slower charging |
Table of Contents:
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Design and Display Quality
Both are beautiful and premium, but in different ways
The first thing most would probably notice when comparing these two phones side by side is the sheer size difference. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a massive phone, and even though it is about the same length, it is somewhat thicker and noticeably wider compared to the Motorola Edge 50 Pro.
It is also considerably heavier, mostly because of its glass back panel, larger batter, and that fourth periscope telephoto camera at the back. Thankfully, the frame is made out of titanium, which shaves off a good amount of weight, as it is a much lighter metal compared to the aluminium that's used on most other phones, such as the Edge 50 Pro.
Besides the aluminum frame, the Edge 50 Pro also comes with either a silicon (vegan leather) or a pearl acetate material for its back panel, which is likely one of the main reasons it is lighter by almost 50 g.
Another obvious difference is how blocky the S24 Ultra is, with sharp angles and flat sides. In contrast, the Edge 50 Pro has more of a pebble-like shape, with curved angles all throughout its body.
Here at the office we have the Luxe Lavender version of the Edge 50 Pro, which has a vegan leather back. Unlike glass, this silicon won't be breaking anytime soon. It is also much more slip-resistant, which helps prevent accidental drops. Not to mention that it does not attract fingerprints and is quite pleasant to the touch.
One big differentiating factor is the camera island design, with the S24 Ultra simply not having one, which arguably looks cleaner and more stylish. That said, Motorola has stepped up its game this year, and made the Edge 50 Pro's camera island more unique and, in our opinion, more pleasant for the eyes compared to its predecessors.
An important that makes the S24 Ultra a more unique phone is the integrated S Pen stylus, which is hidden inside the phone's body. A much appreciated tool for some power users out there.
The buttons on both phones feel great to press and pretty sturdy, but when it comes to ergonomics and how comfortable it feels to hold them, the Edge 50 Pro is a clear winner thanks to its slimmer form factor and curved sides.
As for the displays, the clear difference here is that the Edge 50 Pro has a curved one that bleeds over the edges, gently joining the frame of the phone.
Specs-wise, the S24 Ultra takes the cake as far as resolution goes, with 1440 x 3120 pixels vs the 1220 x 2712 pixels on the Edge 50 Pro. The difference is not extremely noticeable in real life, though. It is also a more power efficient display thanks to its variable refresh rate, which the Motorola doesn't have.
Additionally, the S24 Ultra has a more durable glass protecting its display, the Gorilla Glass Armor, which is much more scratch resistant than the Gorilla Glass Victus of the Edge 50 Pro. We also can't forget to mention the awesome reduction in screen reflections on the Galaxy, making the screen even easier to see.
Display Measurements:
Even though Samsung claims a peak brightness of 3000 nits for the S24 Ultra, during our lab tests it almost matched the maximum brightness of the Edge 50 Pro, which has a claimed peak brightness of 2000 nits. In reality, both phones get as bright as anyone would need them to be and are clearly visible even in the most challenging scenarios.
Performance and Software
More money means twice the performance and software support
Being a high-end Samsung flagship, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is equipped with the most powerful Android processor out there at the moment, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro is a mid-range handset, and it comes with the best mid-range processor at the moment, which is the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3.You will see the difference in performance between these two chipsets in the benchmark results below, but know that, in general, both phones feel snappy and perfectly capable. Of course, the S24 Ultra has a lot more power, mostly noticeably in more demanding mobile games and some productivity applications such as Photoshop and Lightroom, or CapCut.
Both phones have 12GB of RAM available, although the S24 Ultra comes with LPDDR5X, which is around 1.5x faster than the LPDDR4x that the Edge 50 Pro is rocking.
Performance Benchmarks:
So, the gist of it is that Qualcomm's best flagship chipset is twice, and in some cases more than twice as capable as its best mid-range one. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is clearly in a league of its own. That is not to say the Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 is a bad chipset, as its performance is plenty sufficient for most users there.
In terms of storage, the Edge 50 Pro only comes with 512GB, whereas the S24 Ultra can be bought with 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB of storage. It is also much more power efficient and fast UFS4.0 storage compared to the UFS2.2 storage on the Motorola.
The S24 Ultra also takes the cake when it comes to software support, offering 7 years of Android updates and security patches, whereas the Edge 50 Pro will get only 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches.
The Galaxy also comes with a slew of on-device AI features such as live translation during phone calls, Circle to Search with Google, Chat Assist in Samsung Keyboard (translate, proofread, rephrase messages), and more. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro also has some AI features onboard, most of which have to do with the camera performance, including Photo Enhancement Engine and Shot Optimization.
Camera
A surprisingly non-staggering difference
Motorola Edge 50 Pro vs Galaxy S24 Ultra camera performance.
Here's a quick summary of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro vs Galaxy S24 Ultra camera specs.
Motorla Edge 50 Pro:
- Main camera (wide): 50 MP, f/1.4, OIS, Laser Autofocus
- Ultra-wide camera: 13 MP, f/2.2, Autofocus
- 3X zoom telephoto camera: 10 MP, f/2.0, OIS
- Front camera: 50 MP, f/1.9, Autofocus
Galaxy S24 Ultra:
- 200 MP, f/1.7, OIS, Laser Autofocus
- Ultra-wide camera: 12 MP, f/2.2, Autofocus, Super Steady video
- 3X zoom telephoto camera: 10 MP, f/2.4, OIS
- 5X zoom (periscope) telephoto camera: 50 MP, f/3.4, OIS
Main Camera
Both cameras appear to have done a great job here. The main noticeable difference is the way the two handled the balance between highlights and shadows, with the Edge 50 Pro opting to brighten up the darker area and show more of the motorcycle, whereas the S24 Ultra has kept a more natural look to it, with the bike casting a shadow from the harsh afternoon sun.
Personally, I prefer the Edge 50 Pro, as I like the fact that I can see more of the bike.
In low light conditions such as this dark room here, it is surprising to see that the Motorola Edge 50 Pro appears to be sharper. It is especially noticeable on the table and near the sealing.
Our guess here, however, is that the Galaxy goes a bit too aggressive with the noise reduction, which is what leads to the photo looking not as sharp in some areas. You clearly see that the Edge 50 Pro has much more noise in the shot. In other words, this might be more of a personal preference kind of case.
A couple of other things we noticed is that the S24 Ultra has captured more light, so the darker areas in the photo are more visible. It has also managed to get closer to the real colors, whereas the Edge 50 Pro has shifted the white balance more to the warmer side, which is why its image looks a bit more yellowish.
Zoom Quality
At optical 3X zoom, the telephoto camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra provides better sharpness, a more balance contrast, and even more accurate colors compared to the Edge 50 Pro. That said, you kind of have to pixel peep to notice the difference, so it is pleasantly surprising how well the Edge 50 Pro's telephoto camera performs for a phone of its price range.
Unlike the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Motorola Edge 50 Pro does not have a fourth dedicated telephoto camera with 5X optical zoom. Despite that, however, the difference in quality is once again not stagger, albeit the S24 Ultra shows a higher level of detail that is more noticeable than the 3X zoom comparison above.
Ultra-wide Camera
In this case, it is the Edge 50 Pro's ultra-wide camera that's produced a more color-accurate image with higher contrast. The Motorola seems to have exposed more for the shadows, revealing a bit more detail in them, whereas the S24 Ultra has gone for a lowe exposure to show more of the highlights, like in the white cars, for example.
Personally, I prefer the Edge 50 Pro in this case, as the image appears more realistic to me thanks to the higher brightness levels, which is about what I would expect my eyes to see in a bright sunny spring day.
Selfies
This is arguably the camera where there is the biggest difference in quality between the Edge 50 Pro and S24 Ultra.
The Motorola is simply blown out of the water when it comes to sharpness and detail, something the front camera of the S24 Ultra has plenty of! The Galaxy also has better HDR performance in comparison, truly showing its flagship status here.
Audio Quality and Haptics
The dual speakers on both devices are great if you want to listen to anything with speech in it. The S24 Ultra does go higher in terms of volume, though, so if you find yourself using your phone without headphones in nosier environments or want to use it as portable speaker, the Galaxy is definitely the superior model here.
Haptics are much more accurate and tight-feeling on the S24 Ultra, unlike the Edge 50 Pro, which has haptic feedback that feels mushy in comparison. If you are a leave-vibrations-on kind of user, this would be an important detail.
Battery Life and Charging
It's time Samsung to level up its charging speeds
The Morola Edge 50 Pro has a 4,500 mAh battery, which is a little smaller than the 5,000 mAh one inside the Galaxy S24 Ultra. But there are many other factors at play that affect the battery life besides the size of it alone, like for example its chipset, display tech, and more.
Charging-wize, for a long time the major phone manufacturers like Samsung (Google and Apple too) have refrained from adding super fast charging to their devices. The S24 Ultra has the fastest charging that Samsung offers, but its 45W are still a far cry from the 125W that the Motorola Edge 50 Pro comes with.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
As you can see, despite the S24 Ultra's larger battery, the Edge 50 Pro managed to beat it in our video streaming and 3D gaming battery tests that we do here at the office. Some of that might be thanks to the lower resolution display, and some of it due to the less power-hungry (and powerful) mid-range chipset.
PhoneArena Charging Test Results:
It is a clear win for the Edge 50 Pro in this case, which we managed to charge from 0-100% in less than half an hour. Of course, the smaller battery also helped with that number, but even if it was the same size as that of the S24 Ultra the difference would still be significant.
Specs Comparison
| Specs | Edge 50 Pro | Galaxy S24 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 161.2 x 72.4 x 8.2 mm | 162.3 x 79 x 8.6 mm |
| Weight | 186 g | 232 g |
| Screen | 6.7-inch P-OLED 144Hz | 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED 2X 120Hz |
| Processor | Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (4 nm) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm) |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 12/512GB for €699 | 12/512GB for €1,569 |
| Cameras | 50MP main, f/1.4 13MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 10MP 3X zoom, f/2.0 50MP front, f/1.9 | 200MP main, f/1.7 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.2 10MP 3X zoom, f/2.4 50MP 5X zoom, f/3.4 12MP front, f/2.2 |
| Battery Size | 4,500 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 125W wired 50W wireless 10W reverse wireless | 45W wired 15W wireless 4.5W reverse wireless |
Which one should you buy?
Listen, there are probably not that many people out there wondering whether they should purchase the Galaxy S24 Ultra or Motorola's latest high-tier mid-range Edge 50 Pro. Our point here was to have a bit of fun and see how large the gap (and not only in terms of price) between these two phones is.Despite the rather odd comparison, we had a few happy surprises that showed us a phone of the Edge 50 Pro's caliber can, in fact, cover a lot of what a flagship such as the S24 Ultra is capable of. Of course, there are some glaring performance and hardware differences, but it is awesome that you can get a phone that covers all the basics this well for about half the price.
In essence, phones like the Motorola Edge 50 Pro represent what flagships used to be a few years back. The phrase "flagship" simply describes something much more than just a list of high-end specs these days.
So, if you are really trying to choose between these two phones, it really boils down to whether or not you need the 7 years of software support, a stylus, and the S24 Ultra's flagship processor. If those three things are not as important, then the Edge 50 Pro quite honestly has you covered for the most part.
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