Editor’s Desk
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Last year’s Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 was a surprisingly impressive midrange phone, one that I had a hard time putting down despite costing less than half that of the flagship phones I tested in 2024. This year, the Moto G Stylus 2025 manages to step things up a notch in ways that I did not expect, and it may put other flagships on the spot, yet again.
While it’s not exactly the AI powerhouse that the Pixel 9a might be, Motorola has upgraded the Stylus 5G in other ways, mostly with better hardware specs and some improvements on the software front. The result is a phone that, at least on paper, feels like it should cost a lot more than it does at just $399.
I’ve had the Moto G Stylus 2025 for a few days now, and while I’m excited to really put it through its paces, here are some of my favorite things that I’ve noticed, based on my early impressions of the phone.
Lets talk about that design
Motorola seems to have settled on a design for 2024 and 2025, so the Stylus 2025 doesn’t look too different from its predecessor aside from the larger camera housing. That’s not a bad thing, and I quite like the design of the Stylus 2025, especially when you take its new colors into account.
Motorola began its partnership with Pantone a few years ago, a collaboration that has seen both companies applying some rather unique color options to Motorola’s phones, such as the Razr. The Moto G Stylus 2025 comes decked out in two Pantone colors, and while they both look great, Surf the Web really stands out with its vibrant blue-ish/ indigo hue.
The color looks great on the phone’s frame and soft vegan leather back, giving it an almost neon vibe that I don’t often see on smartphones.
Lately, Motorola seems largely against launching phones with the typical white or black color ways, forcing users to pick devices with a bit of flair added to them, even if they’re just mid-range or budget phones. The Moto G Stylus 2025 follows this trend, looking arguably more attractive than Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series at half the price of the cheapest model (although the Navy Galaxy S25 is a great one).
The front looks great as well
Then there’s the display. Motorola has done a great job shrinking the bezels down on its Stylus phones, to the point where the Moto G Stylus 2025 could almost be mistaken for a flagship phone.
That said, there’s more to the display than meets the eye, at least at first glance. Motorola is using an OLED panel with a “Super HD” resolution, which I admittedly hadn’t previously heard of on a phone. With a 2712 x 1220 resolution, it appears to sit somewhere between a Full HD+ panel found on most mid-range and higher-end phones these days and a Quad HD+ display found on premium phones.
The result is a display that’s pushing more pixels than even the $800 Galaxy S25 while retaining a smooth 120Hz refresh rate.
The Moto G Stylus 2025 has better display specs than the base Galaxy S25, a phone that costs twice as much.
Not only that, but the display can reach an impressive 3,000 nits of peak brightness, which is higher than all Galaxy S25 models, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It also includes flicker prevention, which is great for people with PWM sensitivity.
This is arguably the best display on a Moto G phone, and I hope Motorola continues to incorporate more impressive displays into its devices, especially its flagship models like the upcoming Razr 2025.