Motorola Signature review: The OnePlus 15 has a new rival

Over recent years, Motorola has been best known for its affordable devices. Often offering excellent value for money – check out the best cheap phones – the real appeal of a Motorola phone has been the software, which is as close to stock Google Android as you'll get.

Indeed, I've previously referred to Moto phones as a cheap Pixel alternative. That situation is now changing, as Motorola looks to own more of the experience, introducing a range of artificial intelligence (AI) features that go beyond Google's Gemini, while also increasing the push to get users to install more bloatware apps.

The Motorola Signature is pitched as a new luxury level of device for Motorola, dropping the Edge naming that it typically uses for this type of phone. It is, in essence, the closest to a Motorola flagship that you'll get. So how exactly does that stack up?

Price & Availability

The Motorola Signature was announced in late 2025 and is now in general retail. In the UK it costs £899 direct from Motorola.

That's for the 16/512GB model (the only option available in the UK), while there's the offer of a free Moto Watch and Moto Buds Loop headphones (worth £260) as a buying incentive.

In Europe there are similar deals, with the Signature costing €999.99, but there are no plans to launch it in the US.

How is the Moto Signature different to Edge 60 Pro?

• Snapdragon power
• Larger brighter display
• Upgraded camera system

That's the real question here, because at surface level the Motorola Signature doesn't appear to offer much that's new. Motorola talks about the Signature offering "elegance like no other" and how it "redefines sophistication", but it's worth taking the marketing with a pinch of salt.

I've picked the Edge 60 Pro because it's the previous top-tier phone, with Motorola not launching an Edge 60 Ultra in 2025. However, in the previous year, the Edge 50 Ultra model more directly aligned with Signature: it offered Snapdragon 8 hardware, 125W charging, a 6.7-inch display, and a triple camera on the rear.

The Edge 60 Pro settled on a MediaTek 8350, again had a 6.7-inch display with 4500 nits peak output, a triple camera, and 6000mAh battery with 90W charging.

The Signature goes thinner, but weighs the same as the Edge 60 Pro, the screen is larger and brighter and the processor more powerful. The battery is smaller – presumably behind the thinner design – while the camera gets a hefty upgrade over previous devices.

Design & Display

• 6.8-inch AMOLED display
  • 2780 x 1264 pixels (450ppi)
  • 6200 nits peak brightness
  • 165Hz refresh rate

You'll be forgiven for looking at the Signature and thinking that it's typical Motorola design, because it is. A large camera unit sits in the top left-hand corner, while there's a textured finish to the rear of the phone – either linen or twill-inspired, depending on the colour. Motorola is offering the Signature in Pantone Carbon (pictured here) and Pantone Martini Olive (a sort of green colour).

Otherwise, the avoidance of a flat display and flat rear is typical of Motorola design, providing a soft curve towards the edge. Compared to the Pixel 10 Pro XL or Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus it's certainly easier to grip, but there will be some who say that this design is perhaps a little dated.

Protection comes in the form of IP68 and IP69, with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and MIL-STD 810H drop protection. That's all great to get in a phone that's slimmer than most, providing some peace of mind.

There's a 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED display on the Signature, with those soft curves towards the edges as I mentioned above. It offers a nice and sharp 450ppi density, a claimed peak brightness of 6200 nits, while supporting Dolby Vision and HDR10+.

It also offers refresh rates up to 165Hz – if you can find any use for those speeds – and underlining the fact that Motorola is throwing everything into this display. Equally, while support for high dynamic range (HDR) formats is great, finding compatible sources isn't guaranteed. It supports Google's Ultra HDR format in photos, however, so you'll get a greater impact when viewing images in Google Photos or on Instagram (when the creator has used that format).

With all that said, the Moto Signature offers a great display experience. It's bright, colourful and has plenty of settings to customise the colour to your preferences. I settled down to watch the latest season of The Lincoln Lawyer while travelling with this phone and was taken by how well it was presented – it really does look great.

Performance & Battery

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 5
  • 16GB RAM; 512GB storage
• 5200mAh battery
  • 90W wired charging
  • 50W wireless charging

Returning the to the positioning of the Signature as a flagship device and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 powers this phone. That sees it with the latest Qualcomm hardware, but not the latest flagship Elite hardware. That means that the performance isn't quite up there with the likes of the OnePlus 15 or the Honor Magic 8 Pro – both agressively priced rivals.

That positions the Moto Signature as a slightly more affordable flagship phone. Which is no bad thing, as it will certainly be more affordable than some of the top rivals out there. The 16GB RAM and 512GB storage is also generous, as this steps up the core performance and feels more like the value proposition that Motorola is known for.

In truth, the difference between the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is minor: technically there's a difference in the compute power on offer, but in daily use you're unlikely to notice the difference, unless you're a power user.

What I'm basically saying is that this phone is slick, smooth and fast in operation and through the hours I've put into Call of Duty Mobile, I can't say that I've noticed any shortcoming compared to one of the best Android phones at flagship level. I haven't felt excessive heating under load and I've enjoyed the rich graphical performance and rich audio from the Dolby Atmos-enhanced speakers.

Sure, in gaming terms I'd prefer a flat screen to get the most out of the space on offer, but that's a minor point.

Some of the slimness that this phone offers comes from using a silicon-carbon battery typ, permitting a greater capacity in a smaller physical volume. While the 5200mAh cell pales compared to the huge 7300mAh OnePlus 15, it's still appreciable. The 90W wired charging also helps, but you'll have to provide your own charger.

The battery performance of the Motorola Signature befits the capacity, but that leaves this phone a little adrift from the sort of multi-day performance that we've seen recently from the likes of the Honor Magic 8 Pro.

Software & AI features

• Android 16 with Hello UI
• 7 years of updates

Motorola's software situation on its phones has changed over the past few years. On one hand, the Motorola Signature will have 7 years of software updates, the first Motorola device to offer this commitment. That puts it on a par with flagship Samsung and Google devices, so that's a positive.

The phone launches on Android 16, but it's no longer a stock Android experience, with a couple of changes that impact on day-to-day ownership. As I outlined in the introduction, Motorola wants to own more of the experience and the introduction of Moto AI on devices in 2025 is leading that charge.

That leads to a slightly confusing position that feels like AI overload. There's the underlying Google Gemini that is part of Android. That gives you the familiar voice assistant and integration into Google apps. Then there's Moto AI offering a bit of Microsoft CoPilot, a bit of Perplexity, and a bit of an intrusion.

The big thing I don't like about Moto AI is how it's been shoehorned into the apps tray. The search bar in said tray is also an entry point into Moto AI. It's confusing, because normally you'd be searching for an app, but there's the potential to dive into a more generalised AI chat or end up somewhere that AI thinks you should be.

It's also slow: I've found that using it is typically slower than a straight Google search when looking for basic information.

Aside from AI, there's been a gradual increase in Motorola's desire to install additional apps. This is common on cheaper phones, but on flagship devices is less prevalent. But on the Motorola Signature it's there during set up, there's some you can't opt out of, and when opening up Moto Gametime (the useful companion app for gaming) there are yet more "game picks" that it wants you to install.

So the software isn't quite the light touch on Android that it once was – and what we're not getting here is the "white-glove assistance" that was promised with the phone's announcement or the Qira personal AI experience that Lenovo and Motorola are working towards. Hopefully those things will come in the future.

Camera Performance

• Triple rear camera:
  • Main: 50-megapixel, f/1.6 aperture, 1/1.28in size (Sony Lytia 828), autofocus (AF), optical stabilisation (OIS)
  • Tele (3x periscope zoom): 50MP, f/2.4, 1/1.95in (Sony Lytia 600), AF, OIS
  • Wide: 50MP, f/2.0, AF
• Single front selfie camera:
  • 50MP, f/2.0, 1/2.93in (Sony Lytia 500), AF

Look at the back of a Moto Edge phone and you'll see a familiar looking camera array. The Signature is a little different, however, because it has three cameras that actually deliver. Moving to three 50-megapixel sensors – plus another for the front camera –takes this model up a notch and gets us closer to a flagship experience.

The colour consistency across these different cameras is generally good, meaning that switching from an ultrawide to telephoto image doesn't leave it looking completely different. The ultrawide camera manages to give images that aren't too blurred towards the edges, which is great.

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The main camera offers great high dynamic range (HDR) shots with lifelike colours – which Motorola says are Pantone validated – and it offers the strongest performance overall. They offer a little more saturation than the Pixel 10 Pro in its "Natural" mode, but there's also a "Signature" mode which pushes the colour more towards the sort of saturated results that Samsung offers.

I'd stick to the Natural mode for shooting though. When I tested the Signature mode with my own face, it made me look like I was wearing fake tan or makeup, which isn't really my vibe. The Signature mode also knocks out the Super Zoom Pro processing, so images might not look as sharp when using the telephoto.

The main camera isn't as dynamic as you'll get from a Pixel: on overcast days it loses definition in clouds that the would Pixel preserve, while it doesn't lighten in low-light quite as effectively. Dark scenes aren't as good, highlighting that Motorola's processing has some way to go.

The performance from the telephoto lens is generally good, with AI assistance to clean things up. In the middle of the digital zoom range (around 20x), that gives a good deal of sharpening, before the results become more generative out at the far end. I'd say that Pixel's Pro Res Zoom is better, but Motorola puts in a good showing for itself.

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Portraits see great edge detection, the front camera offering a couple of zoom lengths while achieving neat edge separation from backgrounds. Again, images are a little warmer than you'd get from a Pixel, but the Pixel is known for slightly cold and contrasty selfies.

There's the option for Dolby Vision video capture, which is not only fancy – it's right up to 8K resolution, too. Dolby Vision can make for more dramatic HDR effects, but like the technology on TVs, it can mean that some complete picture brightness is lost when viewing. That's because HDR is focusing on making the highlights pop, so the rest of the scene comes down a notch in brightness.

I watched this Dolby Vision video on a non-DV phone and found it brighter and more pleasing. So while the nuances of HDR aren't as apparent, it might make for better video without. It really depends who is watching it where and how you want it to look.

Motorola Signature review: Verdict

The Motorola Signature picks up a new name while pitching itself into the sub-flagship segment. That's a category of phones that offers great value, paired with solid performance.

Some might find that the design doesn’t differ too much from the past few years of Motorola devices, eschewing the current trend for flat edges (mostly pushed by the iPhone), while the battery here is smaller than some rivals.

But the experience is generally positive, with a good camera experience and smooth running, marred only slightly by software that seems to be heading towards the spammy end of the AI spectrum. At least it has long support with that 7 year commitment, rounding out a device that's decent, but not without its compromises

Overall, the Motorola Signature's highlight is its display, which really pops. But it's a well-protected device that delivers on plenty of power, too, so there are a multitude of reasons to recommend it in among a bustling field.

Also Consider

The Motorola Signature sits in a really competitive segment of the market, facing the likes of the OnePlus 15, which is more powerful, with a more modern design, and much better battery life. It's also cheaper.

Alternatively, the Google Pixel 10 Pro offers a better camera experience and cleaner software, although it's more expensive and bulkier overall thanks to its design.