motorola launched the edge 70 max, the company’s latest smartphone in the edge 70 series, in India last week. This packs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC, and the company says that it is the only phone in the price segment with 25W Qi 2.2 magnetic wireless charging. Is the phone worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- motorola edge 70 max 8GB + 256GB in Aqua Gray colour
- 90W turbo charger
- USB Type-C to-C cable
- SIM Ejector tool
- User manual
Display, Hardware and Design
Starting with the display, the motorola edge 70 max features a large 6.8-inch 2K 144Hz flat Extreme AMOLED screen with a pixel resolution of 1440 x 3168 pixels, a 20:9 aspect ratio, and a pixel density of about 510 PPI. While most of the companies have switched to a 1.5K panel even in their flagships, it is a good thing motorola is offering a 2K panel in the phone.
The display is bright since it has up to 7000 nits of peak brightness, and the sunlight legibility is good as well. The colors are vibrant as well since it has 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. This also has Pantone™ Validated Display and SkinTone™ accuracy, Smart Water Touch, advanced eye-care protections.
The 144Hz LTPO panel that can switch between 0-144Hz depending on the content. It has 360Hz touch sampling rate in gaming mode. It also has HDR+ and Dolby Vision support. The phone has Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection.
Under the display options there are different options to adjust colours from Natural, Radiant and Vivid colors. There is flicker prevention option in the settings. It doesn’t have notification LED, but there is Always on display.
It has a 32MP camera on the front. The earpiece is on the top edge that doubles up as a secondary speaker. The phone has minimal bezels at the bottom of the screen.
The volume rockers and the power button are present on the right side. The dedicated AI key is present on the left side. The dual SIM slot, USB Type-C port, and speaker grill are present on the bottom. The secondary microphone is on the top, along with Dolby Atmos branding. You can see the antenna bands.
It has an aircraft-grade aluminum frame with a matte finish that is premium in looks and feel. The flat sides feature a matte finish and are easy to grip.
The phone comes with military-grade durability with MIL-810H standard certification after passing 16 structural tests, demonstrating drop resistance from up to 1.8 meters and operational functionality in temperatures ranging from -20°C to 60°C. With IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings, the smartphone is protected against dust entry, high-pressure hot water jets, and submersion in up to 1.5 meters of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. The back also has Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protection.
The Aqua Gray color that we have blends freshness and elegance in a grounded green-gray hue. It also comes in Pantone Dark Shadow, a near-black shade that exudes sophistication and quiet luxury and Pantone Ice Melt, an airy pale blue hue that’s light, luminous, and fresh, according to the company.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with LYTIA-710 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, OIS
- 8MP 119º ultra-wide autofocus camera; macro option
- 32MP front camera with f/2.2 aperture
The camera UI is familiar with most Motorola smartphones that include quick toggles between the main camera, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras on the bottom and quick toggles for flash, timer, aspect ratio, and more.
Other camera features include Scan, Night Vision, Panorama, Ultra-Res, Photo Booth, Long Exposure, Group Shot, Timelapse, and Dual Capture Video.
Coming to the image quality, the new Sony LYT-710 offers good images in all scenarios, including low light. The 8MP ultra-wide camera does a good job. You can shoot macro images from the ultra-wide camera, but 2x macro from the main camera does a better job when it comes to quality. OIS automatically compensates for unexpected camera movement to eliminate unwanted blur, even when shooting in low lighting. Low-light camera performance is good, but it could be better.
The 32MP front camera does a good job and also offers good edge detection. For the price, the camera performance is brilliant.
Check out the camera samples.
It can record videos at 4K resolution at up to 60 fps from the rear, and the front camera can shoot 4K 30fps videos. HDR works at up to 4K 30fps. OIS does a good job in stabilization which is automatic. It offers FHD 120fps and 240fps slow motion recording. There is no portrait video option.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 16 with the June 2026 security patch. It has Hello UI, which is stock with added moto features. The company has promised 3 OS updates and 4 years of security updates for the phone, which is decent, but some competitors offer 4 OS updates.
There is nothing to mention regarding the software in specific since it offers a stock Android 16 experience with added features. There are gestures such as Quick capture, Fast flashlight, Three-finger screenshot, Sidebar, Double press power key, Press and hold power button.
AI Features and Moto AI With the dedicated AI key on the left that puts Artificial Intelligence front and center. By default, a single press launches the “Moto AI” assistant, which acts as a system-wide helper, but this key is customizable to launch Copilot, Gemini, or Perplexity, which comes pre-installed.
It also marks the introduction of Motorola Qira, an on-device AI companion providing several localized functions:
- Catch Me Up: Dynamically summarizes notification batches across connected devices.
- Recall: Indexing system that allows users to search past chat information or screenshot details using natural language queries.
- Creator Zone: Generative tools including Scribble to Image, Create Avatar, and Style Sync to convert user prompts or sketches into digital media assets.
Apart from the usual set of utility apps, Google apps, there are some apps such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, but you can install them easily. It has 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM, out of which 7.2GB of RAM is free. It also has a RAM booster option to add up to 16GB of virtual RAM, and the AI auto RAM boost option is enabled by default. Out of 256GB UFS 4.1 storage, 215.21GB is usable.
Fingerprint sensor and Face Unlock
The phone has an in-display optical fingerprint sensor that is quick to unlock. You can add up to 5 fingerprints. You can also use the fingerprint for app local and payments in apps. The phone also has face unlock, but it is not as secure as fingerprint.
Music Player, and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player. It also has Dolby Atmos. Audio through earphones, is good, and the stereo speaker is good. It has Widevine L1 support, so you can play HD content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other streaming apps without any issues. HDR works for YouTube and Amazon Prime Video but doesn’t work with Netflix, even though the phone has Dolby Vision support. This was a similar case with the motorola signature.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
It has the usual set of connectivity features, such as 5G with a lot of (n1/n2/n3/n5/n8/n26/n28/n38/n40/n41/n48/n66/n77/n78) bands. Jio and Airtel 5G work out of the box. It also has dual 4G VoLTE, 4G carrier aggregation or 4G+, Vo 5G or VoNR, 5G++, Wi-Fi 7 802.11 ax (2.4 + 5 + 6Ghz), Bluetooth 6.0, GPS, AGPS, LTEPP, SUPL, Glonass, Galileo, Navic, Beidou, QZSS and NFC. This also has eSIM support.
The motorola edge 70 max’s body SAR is 1.08W/Kg, and the head SAR is at 1.06W/Kg, well under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g) and is similar to the motorola signature with the same chip.
Performance and Benchmarks
This is the company’s second phone powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 platform after the motorola signature. It has a 2 + 6 all-big core architecture that uses 2 x Oryon Prime CPU at up to 3.8GHz, 6 x Oryon Performance CPUs at up to 3.32GHz. The chip is fabricated using the TSMC 3nm process technology. It promises a 36% improvement in overall performance compared to its predecessor.
The phone has new vapor chamber cooling system with liquid metal to regulate heat produced during high performance, with a 5500mm² vapor chamber that dissipates heat faster than standard cooling technology so the phone stays cool in-hand while multitasking or playing intense games, says the company.
We did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI and Genshin Impact, thanks to the new Adreno 829 GPU clocked at 1225MHz that promises 11% improved performance compared to the predecessor.
It supports 120fps in BGMI, but 144Hz doesn’t work in any games. In 3D Mark Wild Life stress test, it scored 69.1%, which is better than the motorola signature. The temperature shot up from 27 to 4547degrees, which is slightly more than the motorola signature. Check out the benchmarks below.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 7100mAh (typical) built-in silicon-carbon battery to match the competitors. Thanks to the optimization, battery life is good even with 5G and multimedia use. I got over 6 and a half hours of screen on time with 2 days of use, mostly on Wi-Fi, and occasional 5G use in 144Hz, which is good enough.
It has 90W fast charging. It takes less than an hour to charge the phone fully using a bundled charger, and 50% charge takes around 20 minutes. The phone also has 25W Qi2.2 magnetic wireless charging and up to 30W with moto 50W wirelss charger, which other phones in the price range lack. Even with a wireless charger, it takes just over an hour. I even tried a magnetic power bank, which came in handy during travel.
Pricing and availability
The motorola edge 70 max is priced at Rs. 54,999 for the 8GB + 256GB model, and the 12GB + 256GB model is priced at Rs. 59,999. The phone is now available from Flipkart, motorola.in and offline stores. With the Rs. 5000 bank offer, the effective starting price is Rs. 49,999.
Conclusion
The motorola edge 70 max is a powerhouse designed for users who prioritize battery life, top-tier performance, and display quality above all else. Packing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor, a pin-sharp 2K 144Hz AMOLED screen, and a massive 7100mAh battery paired with unique 25W Qi2.2 magnetic wireless charging, it brings serious hardware muscle to the sub-Rs. 55,000 segment.
However, it makes a few notable compromises to achieve that performance and battery size. The omission of a dedicated telephoto camera, lack of portrait video recording, and a shorter software commitment (3 OS updates) compared to some competitors might make camera enthusiasts or long-term buyers think twice.
With the effective starting price of Rs. 49,999 (including bank offers), the motorola edge 70 max offers incredible value for power users and gamers.
Alternatives
The iQOO 15R is a direct competiton with a slightly bigger battery but lacks wireless charging. There is also the OnePlus 15R.
Pros
- 144Hz LTPO AMOLED display is brilliant
- Good build quality, IP69 ratings
- Good cameras
- Clean UI
- Good battery life with fast charging, Qi 2.2 wireless charging
Cons
- No portrait video recording
- Only 3 Android OS updates