Motorola Edge Plus is set for its India launch at 12PM today. The flagship Motorola smartphone comes after its earlier launch, the foldable Motorola Razr (2019), somewhat flopped due to underwhelming reviews and major questions about its durability and longevity. With a more ‘regular’ flagship device, the Motorola Edge Plus will look to take on competition in the premium smartphone market in India. The smartphone is launching just in time as the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are being gradually lifted, hence allowing individuals to buy smartphones once again. Having been unveiled already in USA, here’s taking a look at what the Motorola Edge Plus may mean for the Indian smartphone industry.
Specifications
The Motorola Edge Plus will be the latest smartphone in India to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, the flagship processor of the year. As a result, 5G connectivity will be an integrated feature as well, although India has no signs of 5G at least in the foreseeable future. The processor is paired with 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage. All of this performance prowess can be seen in the dual-edge type display, which not only looks quite impressive, but will come with some sort of edge functionality as well.
The display itself is 6.7 inches in size, with full HD+ resolution, HDR10+ content rating and a 90Hz fast refresh rate. To the rear, it features a quad camera setup, headlined by a 108-megapixel sensor with optical stabilisation. The other units include 8-megapixel telephoto module with 3x optical zoom range and OIS, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide module, and a depth-sensing 3D time of flight (ToF) module. The camera unit will be able to record up to 6K videos at 30fps, and full HD slow motion videos at up to 120fps.
Up front, the display punch hole houses a 25-megapixel snapper that can take HDR shots and record full HD videos at up to 120fps. All of this is powered by a 5,000mAh battery, with 18W fast charging, 15W wireless fast charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging as well with compatible devices. Connectivity and sensor chops of the Motorola Edge Plus include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 (with support for the new Bluetooth LE standard), USB-C 3.1, an under-display optical fingerprint sensor and a barometer.
Launch details
While the Motorola Edge Plus India launch is confirmed for 12PM today, Motorola has not announced any live stream to mark the device’s launch in India. Unless last moment change of plans are put forth, it is likely that the Motorola Edge Plus will be directly made available on Flipkart, the exclusive launch partner. It remains to be seen if any launch offers are also made available once the sale goes live.
Comparison with rivals
In USA, the Motorola Edge Plus was priced at $999 (~Rs 75,700) upon launch, which is a rather steep point of pricing. Given its specifications, the prime rivals for the Motorola Edge Plus in India would be the Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus, and the recently launched OnePlus 8 Pro. While Samsung’s flagship duo are priced at Rs 70,499 and Rs 73,999 in India respectively, OnePlus pulled off a major pricing coup with the flagship OnePlus 8 Pro. Despite its $999 price tag in USA, the company priced it at Rs 54,999 in India, thereby giving it some degree of ‘value’ considering its flagship bearings.
With this in mind, pricing will likely play the major deciding factor behind how impactful the Motorola Edge Plus may turn out to be in the industry. While the premium segment is typically a slow mover, it has picked up pace in India of late, and the Motorola Edge Plus will be looking to eat into a share of this market, should it get its bearings right.
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