It's the best-looking mid-range phone of 2025, with a premium curved design and unmistakable Motorola style.
The 5,200mAh battery is excellent — a day and a half to nearly two days of real-world use.
The triple camera is Motorola's most capable array, and a 3x telephoto at this price is genuinely rare.
Motorola's clean, light-touch Android with handy gestures (chop-for-flashlight, Moto AI) is a real plus.
Strong value at $549 — and a steal when it drops to ~$288 or free on carrier switches.
Deal Breakers
Pros & Cons
Motorola Edge 2025
Pros
It's the best-looking mid-range phone of 2025, with a premium curved design and unmistakable Motorola style.
The 5,200mAh battery is excellent — a day and a half to nearly two days of real-world use.
The triple camera is Motorola's most capable array, and a 3x telephoto at this price is genuinely rare.
Motorola's clean, light-touch Android with handy gestures (chop-for-flashlight, Moto AI) is a real plus.
Strong value at $549 — and a steal when it drops to ~$288 or free on carrier switches.
Detailed Comparison
Design & Build
Motorola Edge 2025
The standout: a premium, curved pOLED design that consistently wins 'best-looking mid-ranger' praise, with durable Gorilla Glass 7i and a build expected to age well.
This $550 Motorola Edge is without a doubt the best-looking mid-range phone in 2025, beating the Pixel 9a in design and looks.
The 6.7-inch curved pLED is bigger and more durable than last year, guarded by Gorilla Glass 7i (versus Gorilla Glass 3 on the Edge 2024).
The curved display is even more curved than the Edge 2024 — a premium feature, though not for everyone.
Very small bezels give it a ~92% screen-to-body ratio, better than most phones in the segment.
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Software support is short and slow — commonly cited as just 2–3 years of OS updates, delivered late, versus the Pixel 9a's 7.
The MediaTek Dimensity 7400 (Ultra) is mid-tier — Geekbench lands in budget-to-upper-budget territory and demanding users won't be satisfied.
No charger in the box — you must buy Motorola's proprietary brick to hit the full 68W.
OnePlus 15T
What Reviewers Agree On
The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' battery is unprecedented in a 6.32-inch body and delivers roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance — easily the longest battery life in the compact-flagship class.
Build quality is genuine flagship-grade: metal frame, IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust + water resistance, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and a 91% screen-to-body ratio with ~1.1 mm symmetric bezels.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED reaches the advertised 1,800 nits in standard measurement and is marketed up to 3,600 nits peak — making it the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 + 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM hits Geekbench multi-core ~10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited ~29,901 — top-tier flagship synthetic performance in a sub-200g chassis.
100W wired SuperVOOC and 50W wireless charging mean even the giant battery refills fast.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS is a meaningful step up from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom and is well-suited to portraits at the classic 85 mm focal length.
Deal Breakers
China-only launch with no confirmed global release — ColorOS instead of OxygenOS, no eSIM support, no WearOS support, and missing European LTE band 20 and band 32 make it a compromise outside China.
Notebookcheck measured pronounced sustained-performance throttling of over 50% in 3DMark stress tests, with surface temperatures climbing past 46 °C; SuperSaf hit 50 °C on the back during Wildlife Extreme and saw scores drop from 6,990 to 3,743 inside a single loop.
No ultrawide camera at all — the 'triple camera' is just main + 16MP front + 3.5x periscope telephoto, which is a downgrade versus the OnePlus 15 for anyone who shoots landscapes, group photos or wide-angle video.
Charging port is still USB 2.0 in 2026, which SuperSaf calls 'a choice and not a good one' on a flagship-tier device at this price.
No built-in MagSafe-style magnets — wireless-charging accessories require a separate magnetic case to align properly.
Cons
Software support is short and slow — commonly cited as just 2–3 years of OS updates, delivered late, versus the Pixel 9a's 7.
The MediaTek Dimensity 7400 (Ultra) is mid-tier — Geekbench lands in budget-to-upper-budget territory and demanding users won't be satisfied.
No charger in the box — you must buy Motorola's proprietary brick to hit the full 68W.
OnePlus 15T
Pros
The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' battery is unprecedented in a 6.32-inch body and delivers roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance — easily the longest battery life in the compact-flagship class.
Build quality is genuine flagship-grade: metal frame, IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K dust + water resistance, ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, and a 91% screen-to-body ratio with ~1.1 mm symmetric bezels.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED reaches the advertised 1,800 nits in standard measurement and is marketed up to 3,600 nits peak — making it the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 + 16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM hits Geekbench multi-core ~10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited ~29,901 — top-tier flagship synthetic performance in a sub-200g chassis.
100W wired SuperVOOC and 50W wireless charging mean even the giant battery refills fast.
The new 3.5x periscope telephoto with OIS is a meaningful step up from the OnePlus 13T's limited 2x zoom and is well-suited to portraits at the classic 85 mm focal length.
Cons
China-only launch with no confirmed global release — ColorOS instead of OxygenOS, no eSIM support, no WearOS support, and missing European LTE band 20 and band 32 make it a compromise outside China.
Notebookcheck measured pronounced sustained-performance throttling of over 50% in 3DMark stress tests, with surface temperatures climbing past 46 °C; SuperSaf hit 50 °C on the back during Wildlife Extreme and saw scores drop from 6,990 to 3,743 inside a single loop.
No ultrawide camera at all — the 'triple camera' is just main + 16MP front + 3.5x periscope telephoto, which is a downgrade versus the OnePlus 15 for anyone who shoots landscapes, group photos or wide-angle video.
Charging port is still USB 2.0 in 2026, which SuperSaf calls 'a choice and not a good one' on a flagship-tier device at this price.
No built-in MagSafe-style magnets — wireless-charging accessories require a separate magnetic case to align properly.
The material choice should help it hold up well into the long term.
The big, ugly camera bump is a recurring design gripe, and the look is clearly carried over from the Moto G Stylus lineage.
OnePlus 15T
OnePlus inherits the design language of the OnePlus 15 — metal frame, glass back, micro-arc oxidation finish on the rails — and shrinks it into a 6.32-inch, 194g body that's roughly iPhone 17-sized but with more than twice the battery capacity. IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K rating, ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and ~1.1mm symmetric bezels are unambiguous flagship moves. Reviewers debate whether 6.32-inch genuinely counts as compact in 2026.
Same premium design as the OnePlus 15 — metal frame, glass back, IP69 water resistance — feels high-quality in the hand at just 194g.
Dimensions and weight are similar to an iPhone 17, but the 15T packs more than twice the battery capacity with a ~91% screen-to-body ratio.
Full-level water resistance and a fast ultrasonic fingerprint sensor make the 15T noticeably more confident outdoors than the OnePlus 13T was.
The metal frame uses a micro-arc oxidation process with a 50/50 weight distribution — it doesn't feel top-heavy and one-handed use is genuinely comfortable.
The pure cocoa colorway is OnePlus's first-ever brown finish and stands out next to the standard 15's black/violet/sandstorm options.
Calling a 6.32-inch phone 'compact' just normalizes the new baseline — at this size the only thing keeping it small is OnePlus refusing to make the body any larger, not any genuine effort to shrink the footprint.
r/gadgets commenters reject the compact framing outright — '6.3" screen is NOT compact' is the top reply on the official-first-look thread, with multiple users asking for a true 5.x-inch option.
Display
Motorola Edge 2025
A vibrant 6.7-inch 120Hz pOLED that's a class highlight — though the headline 4,500-nit brightness claim doesn't survive testing.
It's a 6.7-inch pOLED at 2712x1220, 120Hz, HDR10+ — a big, immersive panel excellent for video and browsing.
Stack it against any mid-ranger, even $600 phones, and this display comes out on top.
The 4,500-nit peak claim is overstated — measured brightness was closer to ~1,400 nits versus the Pixel 9a's 2,500, though it's still brighter than an iPhone 16e.
The manual slider only reaches ~500 nits; auto-brightness boosts to roughly 2,200 nits in bright conditions.
4,500-nit claimed peak is a huge jump over the Edge 2024's ~1,300 nits, and it copes well enough outdoors for a mid-ranger.
OnePlus 15T
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz 1.5K AMOLED panel is the only true 165 Hz compact-flagship display on the market and pairs that refresh rate with a measured 1,800 nits brightness, 460 ppi pixel density, Crystal Shield Glass, and HDR10+/Dolby Vision support. Native 165 Hz support in popular FPS games is a real differentiator. Notebookcheck flags 120.7 Hz PWM dimming that can cause eyestrain for sensitive users.
The 6.32-inch 165 Hz AMOLED panel achieves a very good 460 ppi pixel density and the advertised maximum brightness of 1,800 nits in standard measurement.
Display sharpness is plenty competent — sharp, smooth, and easily one of the strongest spec sheets you can get on a compact phone.
Native 165 Hz support in COD, Delta Force and Peacekeeper Elite makes this the only small-screen flagship pushing a full 165 Hz gaming experience.
OnePlus claims up to 3,600 nits peak brightness — even on a playground in direct sunlight you can still see everything clearly, no squinting required.
Specifications confirm a 6.32-inch 1.5K (1216 × 2640) resolution with 165 Hz refresh — a configuration unique to the 15T in the compact class.
Performance
Motorola Edge 2025
The MediaTek Dimensity 7400 (Ultra) is fluid for everyday use and games acceptably without overheating, but it's the phone's clearest weakness — benchmarks sit in budget territory.
The MediaTek Dimensity 7400 with 8GB RAM is fluid for everyday use — browsing, maps, email, streaming — but not blazing fast.
Geekbench scores land it in the budget-to-upper-budget range — fine for the price, but performance is not top-notch.
It played video games for an extended time without heating up once — unusual praise — holding ~60–90fps in lighter titles.
After 35 minutes of mixed gaming the device stayed at normal temperature with impressive battery retention.
8GB RAM is the bare minimum, but the software RAM-boost to 16GB makes a noticeable difference and is recommended.
Head-to-head against the Pixel 9a, OnePlus 13R and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, the Edge 2025 can't keep up — and isn't really meant to.
OnePlus 15T
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 paired with 12-16GB LPDDR5X Ultra Pro RAM delivers flagship synthetic scores — Notebookcheck recorded Geekbench multi-core 10,976 and 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited 29,901, on par with the larger Xiaomi 17 and Honor Magic8 Pro Air. The problem is sustained: in the 3DMark Wild Life stress test the GPU drops over 50% and the back of the phone hits 50 °C, which both Notebookcheck and SuperSaf flag as a deal-breaker for long gaming sessions.
Geekbench 6 multi-core hits 10,976 — flagship-tier and within 1% of the average 8 Elite Gen 5 result, so there is no compromise on the chipset versus larger phones.
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited hits 29,901 — 5% above the 8 Elite Gen 5 average and ahead of the Xiaomi 17 with the same chip.
In the 3DMark stress tests the OnePlus 15T shows a sharp drop in performance of over 50%, which significantly lowers our rating.
Wildlife Extreme stress test scores swung from 6,990 best loop to 3,743 worst loop in a single run — the chart is 'quite a bit of a bumpy ride' and performance mode did nothing to stabilize it.
Surface temperatures hit 48.3 °C on the back during stress testing and continued climbing to 50 °C near the camera bump — about 45 °C internal — which seems to be the phone's thermal limit.
Battery & Charging
Motorola Edge 2025
A genuine strength: the 5,200mAh cell delivers a day and a half to two days of use, paired with fast 68W wired and 15W wireless charging — though no brick is included.
Thanks to the 5,200mAh battery and efficient Dimensity 7400 Ultra chip, reviewers routinely got a day and a half to nearly two days of use.
Two days of battery life on mixed use with no problem whatsoever.
Lab testing measured ~6h45m of screen time — above the Galaxy A36 and iPhone 16e, but below the Pixel 9a's 8+ hours.
68W charging gets ~70% back in 30 minutes and a full charge in roughly 53 minutes (one test logged 59 minutes).
It also supports 15W wireless charging — and works with a MagSafe case and charger.
No charger in the box — you must buy Motorola's proprietary brick separately to reach full 68W speed.
OnePlus 15T
This is the section the OnePlus 15T was built to win. The 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon 'Glacier' cell is the largest ever fitted to a true compact phone — 50% bigger than the iPhone 17's pack in a similar footprint. Notebookcheck measured roughly 1.5 days of real-world endurance at 150 cd/m². Wired charging tops out at 100 W, wireless at 50 W. The only friction points are the missing built-in magnets for MagSafe-style alignment and the still-USB-2.0 port.
OnePlus relies on a silicon-carbon-based battery with a large capacity of 7,500 mAh for its mini flagship — in our practical battery test at 150 cd/m² brightness, the 15T achieved an excellent battery life of nearly 1.5 days.
9to5Google's preview confirms the 7,500 mAh cell carries the same 'Glacier' moniker as the OnePlus 15's battery, so the silicon-carbon structure is here too — 200 mAh more than the larger sibling.
Even though the phone keeps the same compact size, it now packs a massive 7,500 mAh battery — to put that into perspective, the iPhone 17 Pro Max only has around 5,000 mAh, and this is a 6.32-inch phone.
Battery life is wild for a phone this size and is actually a hair bigger than the one in the OnePlus 15, which has a noticeably larger footprint.
Software & AI
Motorola Edge 2025
Motorola's clean, light Android with useful gestures and a Moto AI button is well-liked, but the short, slow update commitment is the phone's most-cited flaw.
It runs the usual clean Android skin Motorola is known for, with little bloat and classic Moto gestures like chop-for-flashlight.
There's a dedicated Moto AI button and a handy app sidebar for floating-window multitasking.
Motorola officially promises only ~2 years of OS upgrades — well behind mid-range rivals; the Pixel 9a gets 7.
Motorola is notoriously slow at delivering updates — it did receive Android 16, with another (Android 17) expected in 2027, but later than rivals.
Only 2 years of OS and 3 of security is on the lighter side versus the Galaxy A56's 6 years of major updates.
OnePlus 15T
The OnePlus 15T ships with ColorOS 16 on Android 16 in China rather than the global OxygenOS, though the two skins are now nearly identical in feel. Update commitments are unclear — OnePlus doesn't publish a timeline for Chinese-market hardware, and even the global OnePlus 15 only commits to 4 years of major Android upgrades. Mind Space (AI-powered productivity vault) and Gemini integration are the headline software features.
ColorOS 16 comes pre-installed on the 15T instead of OxygenOS — but the differences are minor overall, with German language and Android Auto supported, though no WearOS watches or eSIMs.
There are question marks over the duration of the updates provided — the manufacturer does not usually provide any information on this for China, though typically a OnePlus 15-class phone should receive security updates for six years.
OxygenOS 16 (and ColorOS 16 by extension) integrates Gemini with Mind Space — you can ask Gemini about any saved memory and it accesses local content to perform tasks, making it the best on-phone AI integration we have seen.
Mind Space is the headline AI feature — a digital vault that takes a screenshot of important content and saves it as a card with URL, summary, title and hashtags for contextual search.
Software-support window is uncertain: OnePlus has not committed to a specific update timeline for the Chinese-market 15T, and the global OnePlus 15 already commits to only 4 years of major Android upgrades — well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year promises.
Software-support window is uncertain: OnePlus has not committed to a specific update timeline for the Chinese-market 15T, and the global OnePlus 15 already commits to only 4 years of major Android upgrades — well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year promises.
Display backlight flickers at just 120.7 Hz under PWM dimming — low enough that the flickering may cause eyestrain and headaches for sensitive users after extended use.
Genshin Impact averaged 60.3 fps over 30 minutes at just 3.2 W power draw, with the phone staying cool to the touch — and Peacekeeper Elite pushed 164.5 fps thanks to native 165 Hz support.
r/Android's reviewer thread flags the same thermal issue directly: 'Gets kinda hot, over 50 degrees in the corner. This is with its very heavy throttling.'
100W SuperVOOC wired charging and 50W wireless mean even the huge cell refills fast — getting through two full days on a single charge feels totally realistic.
There is no native magnetic Qi alignment — wireless charging works, but accessories require a separate magnetic case for MagSafe-style snap-on functionality.
r/Android's reaction to the battery is unambiguous — 'Incredible battery life makes the compact smartphone competition pale in comparison' is the actual review-thread headline.
The system feels incredibly smooth — arguably one of the best experiences you can get on Android right now, with useful features for students like meeting summaries and lecture transcription.
Update commitment trails the competition — even on the global OnePlus 15 the company only promises 4 years of major Android upgrades, well behind Samsung and Google's 7-year commitments.
