Motorola Has Launched $1,000 Flagship Smartphone Called the Edge+

Motorola just launched itself back into the flagship smartphone game today when it announced the Motorola Edge+. It is intimidating — with a Snapdragon 865 SoC, mmWave 5G, and is set at a price of $1,000. The Edge+ will be released exclusively to Verizon on May 14, reports Ars Technica.

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Motorola Edge+ launch specs

The new Motorola smartphone has a 6.7-inch, 90Hz, 2340x1080 OLED display, with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage, a 5000mAh battery that needs only 18W wired for a quick charge, and 15W for wireless charging. There's a USB-C port on the bottom, a fingerprint reader in the screen itself, NFC, IP68 dust and water resistance, and — to send everyone to their wilding moments — a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Earlier, the Moto Z was one of the first big phones to remove the headphone jack (pre-empting the iPhone 7 in the choice by several months), but with the Edge+ we can say the jack has made a comeback. It seems like the Edge+ will also have a difficult time beating out the OnePlus 8 Pro, which is only $900, with 30W wired charging and has a 120Hz display.

Named for its curved display, the Edge+ can feel annoying as the side tends to catch glare from overhead lights. The display isn't only curved around the left and right sides; it's also a "90-degree Endless Edge display," which means it can bend a full 90 degrees around the side of the phone.

The front of the camera has a 25MP camera nested in a Samsung-feeling hole-punch display. On the flip-side, there are three cameras: a 16MP ultra-wide/macro camera, a 108MP main sensor, and an 8MP, 3x optical telephoto zoom. The Edge+ even has a time-of-flight sensor.

UPDATE April 22, 3:30 PM EDT: Edge+ Android software

The Edge+ uses Android 10 software, something we shouldn't expect that to change through the years. Motorola has historically been lax on software updates, so unless its Moto Z4 policy changes, buyers should expect their $1,000 smartphone to come with little to no monthly security updates. The Moto Z4 took six whole months to update to Android 10.

In the last few years, Motorola's flagship projects were focused on the Moto Z series, a "modular" smartphone series with clip-on backpack accessories that were active from 2016 to 2019, beginning when Lenovo first took control of the company. That idea never panned out — the modules were pricey proprietary versions of already-existing products, and no one really knew the incentive for buying things like expensive clip-on speakers instead of a Bluetooth — which is cheaper and more compatible with other products.

This is breaking news, so be sure to return here for the latest updates.