In a smartphone market dominated by Apple and Samsung, it’s easy to overlook other device makers.
But while iPhones and Galaxy flagships may grab the lions share of attention, you can find compelling alternatives among the best cheap phones — if you’re willing to look beyond the Big Two.
I was reminded of that recently after reviewing a pair of Motorola budget phones — the 2025 editions of the Moto G and Moto G Power. No one would argue that these are contenders for the best phones of the year.
But they are solid devices that do a few things very well while costing very little compared to the pricier models everyone seems to focus on. If you hate spending big bucks when buying a smartphone, you would do very well to give Motorola’s G Series phones a second look.
Motorola G Series: What Motorola gets right
Super long battery life
If you’re familiar with the Moto G series, one thing probably comes to mind — battery life. Even when the Moto G devices were less polished than they have been lately, you could count on Motorola’s phones to last a very long time on a charge.
And that continues with the 2025 models I’ve tested.
The Moto G Power (2025) — a phone that’s always made longevity part of its calling card — turned in a time of 17 hours and 13 minutes in our battery test, in which phones surf the web until they run out of power.
The Moto G (2025) did even better, with a time that topped 18.5 hours. Both phones belong on our best phone battery life list.
In both cases, we recorded those times with the Motorola phones set to their default adaptive refresh rates, meaning the rate would shift between 60Hz and 120Hz depending on the on-screen activity.
That’s a significant distinction because faster refresh rates tend to put a heavier demand on a phone’s battery. But in the case of the Moto G devices, it won’t stop either the Power or the standard Moto G from offering multi-day battery life under normal conditions.
Vegan leather design and real water resistance
In recent years, Motorola has expanded the merits of its G Series devices to offer more than just strong battery life. For the past couple years, Motorola’s used a vegan leather material for the phone’s back.
Personal tastes can very, but I think it gives the Moto G phones a classier look than you might expect from cheaper devices. It helps that the vegan leather feels good in the hand and makes the rear camera arrays on Motorola’s phones blend more seamlessly into the back.
Opt for the Moto G Power (2025), and you get something you don’t typically find in a $299 device — water resistance that rivals what you’d find on flagship phones.
The new Moto G Power has an IP68/IP69 rating so you can dunk it in water or subject it to a higher-pressure spray without having to fret about damage. The phone now boasts MIL-STD-810H drop protection, too.
Impressive cameras for the price
I wouldn’t say cameras are a selling point for either the Moto G Power (2025) or Moto G (2025), but they offer decent performance for inexpensive phones.
When testing the devices against other low-cost camera phones, I appreciated how the Motorola offerings handled color, giving photos a particular vibrant look. You’ll have some struggles with more complicated shooting situations — the Moto G Power’s night shots were consistently disappointing — but the cameras perform well enough most circumstances.
If mobile photography isn’t high on your wish list of what you want in a phone, you can get by with the Moto G’s cameras.
Longer software support
One area where Motorola has gotten regular — and justified — criticism has been its software support policies for the Moto G phones.
As recently as last year, Motorola would only guarantee one major Android update, leaving you to determine whether the low price on the Moto handsets was really that much of a value if you were going to have an outdated device in a couple years.
I’m happy to report that the policy has improved somewhat with the Moto G (2025) and Moto G Power (2025), which are now in line to get at least two Android updates plus three years of security support.
Since the phones already ship with Android 15 installed, you’re going to be set through Android 17. It’s not the most generous update policy, but it’s an improvement from what used to be available.
Moto G trade-offs
Relatively slow chip
You have to make trade-offs when you’re buying a phone that costs less than $300, and two consistent drawbacks emerged when I tried out the latest Moto G and Moto G Power models.
Motorola doesn’t pull out all the stops with the system-on-chip powering either device — in both instances, it’s a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 — and as a result, the Moto G phones tend to lag behind other phones that try to appeal to bargain hunters.
Nothing’s CMF Phone 1 and Samsung’s Galaxy A35 are probably the closest to the $199 Moto G (2025) and $299 Moto G Power (2025) in price. (The CMF Phone 1 can be had for $239 while the Galaxy A35 is a $399 device.)
But both have better chipsets — a Dimensity 7300 in the case of the Nothing phone and an Exynos 1380 for Samsung’s midrange device. As a result, both outperform the Motorola devices in benchmark tests, though you could argue that might not make a noticeable difference in everyday use running typical apps and games.
Display could be brighter
But you will definitely notice the dim LCD panels that Motorola uses on its Moto G phones, which are easily outshone by comparable devices.
If you crank up brightness on the display and turn off adaptive brightness so that the screen doesn’t adjust for ambient lighting, you can probably make do with what either Moto G phone offers.
But the screens are definitely where the Moto G’s budget roots are most visible.
Moto G bottom line
The question you have to ask when buying a low-cost phone revolves around what you absolutely must have in a phone and what you’re willing to give up if it means a lower price.
If you’re not the sort of person who uses demanding apps or needs a bright display, the Moto G phones offer enough in other areas to be a viable low-cost phone. If Motorola’s not on your list of phone makers to consider when you’re looking for a bargain, it certainly needs to be.
