Motorola Edge 70 Max is one of the few handsets that offer near-flagship performance under Rs. 55,000 in India. Here’s our review.
Motorola Edge 70 Max price starts at Rs. 54,999
Motorola has had an eventful year, especially in terms of handset launches. The tech firm launched its first-ever book-style foldable, unsurprisingly calling it the Motorola Razr Fold. It seemed like the most logical next step for a company that has otherwise cemented its presence in the market with its clamshell-style Razr foldables or the mid-range G lineup. However, Motorola fans, or customers in general, have been given a lot more this year. The company has also expanded its Edge lineup, known for offering some of the best value for your money, by bringing the “Max” model to India.
At the higher end of the lineup, the Motorola Edge 70 Max was recently launched in India, priced under Rs. 55,000. This price point has seen a lot of action this year, especially as flagship smartphones are now going beyond the Rs. 80,000 mark. So, the Edge 70 Max looks like an interesting proposition on paper. Now, it's time to dive deeper.
If you have been keeping track, a certain level of monotony has set in with Motorola's design. From budget G series phones to the highest-end Motorola Razr Fold, most Motorola handsets look the same, with a slightly raised, square camera island and four circular cutouts. When I first saw the Motorola Edge 70 Max, I was relieved to find that this is not the case with the new flagship Edge model.
Motorola Edge 70 Max sports a fresh rear camera module
The Motorola Edge 70 Max resembles other Edge and G series phones, but it still stands out in the crowd. The clearly differentiated square deco has been finished in metal. Unlike the Edge 70 Pro+ and Edge 70 Pro, the Edge 70 Max gets a flat rear panel and a flat mid-frame. The textured panel feels smooth to touch, while the metal mid-frame is really grippy. With that, I also want to highlight the smartphone's great build quality.
There is zero body flex, and the Motorola Edge 70 Max feels extremely premium in your hand. It goes head-to-head with some of the best handsets that are there on the market. Moreover, the weight distribution is commendable, too. The phone doesn't feel top- or bottom-heavy, which matters for extended one-handed use. Although I didn't get to test it, you can rest assured it has an IP69 rating for dust and water resistance.
Before moving on, the Motorola Edge 70 Max, weighing 221g and measuring 8.39mm thick, does feel bulkier than the previously mentioned Pro and Pro+ models. This is mainly because of the flatter edges and an overall boxier design. Ergonomically, the physical buttons sit perfectly so your thumb rests naturally on the power button.
Motorola Edge 70 Max's power button and volume controls are placed on the right side
Meanwhile, the in-display fingerprint sensor sits slightly lower. The phone comes in Pantone Aqua Grey, Pantone Dark Shadow, and Pantone Ice Melt, and all of them look great. I got to test the Aqua Grey option, which actually looks more like green. Overall, I have almost zero complaints with how the Edge 70 Max has been built, how it looks, and how it feels inside my palm.
On the front, the Motorola Edge 70 Max has one of the best displays in this price bracket. Its 1.5K Extreme AMOLED panel is vibrant, and the colours feel punchy. The display refreshes at up to 144Hz, which seems reserved for gaming mode. Otherwise, it appears to be refreshing at a lower 120Hz. Yet, it feels as smooth as any other kid on the block.
Motorola Edge 70 Max is thicker and heavier than the Edge 70 Pro+
I watched the second season of The Sacred Games on Netflix, the latest Waveform episode on YouTube, and Hustle Season 5 on JioHotstar. The performance was consistent regardless of the platform I chose to binge content on. The text edges and borders also look well-defined and clearly differentiated from the background. Overall, the display on the Edge 70 Max is sharp, smooth, and sufficient for most use cases.
Motorola Edge 70 Max's Extreme AMOLED display is great for watching content
The Motorola Edge 70 Max runs on Qualcomm's second-most powerful Snapdragon mobile platform: the 3nm octa-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. In performance and price, the phone competes with the OnePlus 15R and iQOO 15R, which use the same chipset. Also, unlike the Edge 70 Pro+ and Edge 70 Pro models, the Snapdragon chip seems like a more sensible choice for a mid-range flagship phone.
Motorola Edge 70 Max has minimal thermal issues
Throughout my testing, the Motorola Edge 70 Max never disappointed me. The near-flagship performance is adequate for most power users, and they would rarely feel like the handset could have done better with the Elite series SoC. You can run multiple apps in the background, Moto AI doing stuff for you, and over 15 active Chrome tabs, and the Edge 70 Max still doesn't feel out of breath or out of its depth.
This impressive real-world performance translates well into the scores it got on our usual synthetic benchmark tests. The Motorola Edge 70 Max performed as expected, with its scores comparable to its competitors.
| Benchmark | Motorola Edge 70 Max | iQOO 15R | OnePlus 15R |
|---|---|---|---|
| Display Resolution | QHD+ | 1.5K | 1.5K |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (3nm) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (3nm) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (3nm) |
| AnTuTu v10/11 | 30,35,226 | 30,91,779 | 29,85,657 |
| PCMark Work Performance 3.0 | 20,737 | 15,023 | 13,782 |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Single Core | 2727 | 2,659 | 2,813 |
| Geekbench 6 CPU Multi Core | 8890 | 8,574 | 9,375 |
| Geekbench AI CPU (Quantized) | 4,656 | 4,198 | FTR |
| Geekbench AI GPU (Quantized) | 2,993 | 2,419 | 3,182 |
| 3DM Wild Life | Maxed out! | Maxed out! | Maxed out! |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 19,679 | 21,026 | 21,253 |
| 3DM Steel Nomad Light | 1952 | 1,596 | 2,032 |
The Motorola Edge 70 Max is also great for gaming. I could run most titles, including Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Real Racing 3, at the high (default) graphics preset and consistently got over 60 fps. The gameplay was mostly lag-free. However, I did notice a few frame drops while playing Real Racing 3, which is generally a demanding game.
Motorola Edge 70 Max ships with Android 16-based Hello UI
Moving over to its UI, the phone ships with the latest Android 16-based Hello UI. The overall software experience is the same as on other Edge 70 series phones. You can read more about it in our review of the Motorola Edge 70 Pro+ here.
The Motorola Edge 70 Max gets a triple rear camera setup but lacks a telephoto lens, which is a bit of a letdown given that the Edge 70 Pro+ offers one at a lower price. With that said, the Edge 70 Max is still a capable camera phone. The primary 50-megapixel shooter can capture good photos during the day, with plenty of detail. The performance is mostly on par with its competitors.
Motorola Edge 70 Max camera performance
One major upside of its Sony LYT-710 sensor is its colour reproduction. The images look vibrant and punchy, with near-accurate colours. It can also distinguish between different shades of the same colour quite easily. However, the images can get slightly noisy under harsh lighting. Overall, its camera performance is consistent during the day.
Motorola Edge 70 Max performance in portrait mode
Similarly, in portrait mode, the Motorola Edge 70 Max performs quite well. It quickly recognises the subject, thanks to a good optical image stabilisation system, and can blur the background to separate the subject very quickly. However, portrait photos sometimes appear undersaturated.
Motorola Edge 70 Max low-light camera performance
In low-light conditions, the Motorola Edge 70 Max performs similarly to how it does in daylight. It captures plenty of detail, along with nice-looking bokeh. Artificial lights do not disturb the overall scene you intend to capture.
Motorola Edge 70 Max selfie camera performance
The 32-megapixel selfie camera also gets the job done easily. It gets the skin tones just right. But it tends to overprocess and over-smooth skin texture, making it look artificial. The phone would do well with a little toned-down post-processing.
Coming to one of its strongest suits, the Motorola Edge 70 Max packs a 7,100mAh battery, one of the smallest in the segment. However, it still easily delivers 1.5 to 2 days of battery life with moderate usage. You can play games, watch videos, listen to music, and scroll social media for hours, and still have enough battery to take a few calls the next day. On the PCMark Battery Life 3.0 test, it delivered 20 hours and 20 minutes of on-screen time, which is decent.
Motorola Edge 70 Max offers really quick 90W wired charging support
However, the phone hits it out of the park with phenomenal charging speeds. After it has completely run out of battery, the handset can charge to 59 percent within 30 minutes, while reaching 99 percent within an hour. To fully charge, the Motorola Edge 70 Max took a mere 1 hour 1 min, which is quite competitive.
To sum it up, at a starting price of Rs. 54,999, the Motorola Edge 70 Max is one of the best phones in this price range. The performance-to-price ratio is also impressive, especially as smartphone prices keep climbing. The great display, battery, and charging speeds, along with a fresh rear design, really make it an all-rounder worth considering if you have a budget of Rs. 55,000.
However, if camera performance is one of your top priorities, you're better off spending your money elsewhere. For a couple of thousand less, you can get the iQOO 15R (review), which is a more gaming-focused phone than the Motorola Edge 70 Max. That being said, the OnePlus 15R (review) is known to offer a better camera experience, with similar performance figures. But it is slightly more expensive.
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.