Motorola Edge 50 Fusion review: a fashionable and capable all-rounder

Motorola recently announced the Edge 50 Pro (review) smartphone, which received high accolades from critics and consumers for its design, display, and camera performance. Our review stated that the phone has an eye-catching design, a fluid display, an amazing camera system, and premium features like wireless charging capability, lightning-fast wired charging rates, and sturdy build quality.

Motorola Edge 50 Fusion is not intended for a specific demographic or those seeking a long-lasting battery. The phone wants to provide comprehensive features that will appeal to a wide range of customers. It provides a clean and clutter-free user experience, a small and lightweight design, and good charging speeds. On the other hand, it does not rank very high in terms of performance or camera quality.

MOTOROLA EDGE 50 FUSION KEY FEATURES

Following the introduction of the Edge 50 Pro and Edge 50 Ultra, Motorola expanded its Edge series with the Edge 50 Fusion. We wouldn’t call it the “runt of the litter” explicitly, but it is unquestionably the most achievable of the three. It presently retails for roughly €350 in Europe, whereas its Pro brother costs more than €800, and the Ultra is just around €1,000.

So, let’s assume the title of the midrange is accurate and matches the Edge 50 Fusion well. Its Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset meets the bill perfectly. However, don’t base your judgment just on that trait. The Edge 50 Fusion has many advantages, including premium design and IP68 ingress protection. Stereo speakers are also included, as is a large 6.7-inch display with 144Hz refresh rate.

It should be noted that the Latin American version of the Edge 50 Fusion differs in certain specifications from the international model, since it is closer to the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024). It has a 120Hz display instead of 144Hz and a Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor.

Back to the worldwide model we’re looking at, the Fusion’s specs sheet inevitably has some trade-offs when compared to the Pro and Ultra. For example, the Fusion doesn’t have a telephoto camera. Still, it’s not all bad news because the Fusion’s main 50MP camera is quite excellent on paper, as is the 13MP ultrawide camera, which has autofocus and also functions as a macro shooter.

MOTOROLA EDGE 50 FUSION UNBOXING

The Motorola Edge 50 Fusion ships in plastic-free packaging with soy ink printing. It comes in a big, durable cardboard box with no ornate color design. On the inside, there is a cardboard cradle to hold the phone in place, as well as an accessory area.

Speaking of accessories, the Edge 50 Fusion comes with a plethora of options. The bundle includes a 68W charger and a USB Type-C to Type-C connector. The cable incorporates an e-marker chip, but it is passive. It can still handle 5A of current at 20V, which equates to 100W. Data transport is limited to USB 2.0 speeds or 480 Mbps. In addition, the retail packaging includes a durable plastic phone case.

CAMERA

Motorola has once again equipped its elegant mid-ranger with a powerful main camera sensor, this time a Sony LYTIA LYT-700C. With all-pixel instant focus technology and OIS, it can focus on things swiftly and precisely even in low-light circumstances.

I took a few Night mode images with the Edge 50 Fusion beside two of its immediate competitors – the Samsung Galaxy A35 and the Poco X6 Pro – and the Motorola generated shots with more sharpness and less noise, though the difference wasn’t night and day (no pun intended).

Surprisingly, I was most impressed by the main Motorola Edge 50 Fusion camera in well-lit photography conditions. It can produce images that are extremely vibrant and clear. You can choose how much of that hue pop you like. The camera defaults to Natural mode, which results in more subdued, ‘as seen’ images.

When you switch to Auto-enhance mode, the processing time increases (though I didn’t see a significant difference) to provide more contrast and dynamic range. It’s a question of personal preference, and Motorola’s processing system doesn’t always make the ideal exposure decisions, but Auto-enhance is especially useful in those challenging extreme HDR settings.

All of the images in the gallery above were taken with the Auto Enhance setting enabled. I’ve included some side-by-side comparisons to demonstrate the impact of sticking with Natural below. As you can see, Auto-enhance is especially useful when shooting with lower-quality cameras, such as the 13MP ultra-wide or (as shown above) the 32MP selfie camera. I discovered that it added liveliness to images that were otherwise underexposed, lighting shaded foregrounds better on sunny days. However, such photos tended to have a little surreal appearance.

As the name implies, the 13MP ultra-wide camera falls well short of the primary sensor’s quality, but it still produces satisfactory photos in reasonable illumination. There is no telephoto camera here, but the main sensor and Motorola’s image processing capabilities are plenty to produce 2x shots that look great.

The video recording feature further deviates from any flagship feelings, with a somewhat small 4K at 30fps or 1080p at 120fps limit. It’s a decent enough performer for the money, though, with OIS providing fairly stable footage.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

Aesthetically, the Edge 50 series phones share many design aspects. This means that the Edge 50 Fusion has a textured vegan leather back, giving it a premium appearance and feel. I’ve always liked the vegan leather finish on phone backs because it gives them a nice touch and keeps them from feeling slippery in my hand. Unlike some other mid-range phones, which now have camera sensor rings extending far outside the phone’s body, the Edge 50 Fusion has an appealing, near-flush design.

This is one of the thinnest and lightest phones in its price range, measuring only 7.8mm in thickness and weighing 175 grams. As a result, using the Edge 50 Fusion with one hand and carrying it in a pocket is a convenient experience. The volume and power buttons are positioned on the phone’s right spine. I found the keys to be both accessible and tactile. The USB Type-C charging port, SIM card slot, and speaker grille are all located on the handset’s bottom.

The Edge 50 Fusion features a 6.7-inch FHD+ (2,400 x 1,080 pixel) Endless Edge 10-bit P-OLED curved display with a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz. To be honest, my taste has shifted between displays with curved sides and those with fully flat panels. On the one hand, the curved screens provide an immersive experience, with content flowing through the sides. On the other hand, flat panels eliminate undesired reflections, resulting in a more consistent viewing experience.

While I would have loved a flat display panel for this phone, the multimedia consumption experience was excellent. The superb contrast ratio provided by the P-OLED panel made binge-watching TV series on this handset a pleasurable experience. The panel’s inky blacks and bright colors stood out. With a maximum display brightness of 1600 nits, I could readily view the content on the phone’s screen even in direct sunshine.

With a refresh rate of 144Hz, playing Alto’s Adventure was a snap, and the phone maintained a consistent frame rate. In BGMI, the phone supports Ultra HDR and Ultra frame rate options, and I did not see any stuttering or frame drops. It’s safe to say that this is one of the best gaming devices available in this price range, particularly with Game Hub. Game Center not only offers tools to improve your gaming experience but also the ability to record game clips and take screenshots.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

The Edge 50 Fusion is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, a mid-range chip that delivers a punch despite its price point. The phone was capable of handling League of Legends Wild Rift at high settings and 60FPS, so you should have no issue playing most other games on it.

Other software, such as Lightroom Mobile and CapCut, worked well with the phone’s capabilities. The camera app is a little slow to load, but we credit this to the poor internal storage rather than the Snapdragon chipset.

The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 within the Edge 50 Fusion provides a noticeable performance boost over last year’s Edge 40 Neo. That is especially true when looking at multi-core test results, but less so when it comes to graphical performance.

You may acquire the Edge 50 Fusion with two RAM/storage combinations: 12/256GB or 12/512GB. The RAM is LPDDR5, which is not the finest available, but it is very close and plenty fast. However, the storage is UFS 2.2, which is slightly less expensive and performs poorly in terms of power efficiency and read/write speeds when compared to the Galaxy A35 5G’s UFS 3.1 storage. However, the older storage option is far from a deal breaker.

Buy it if...

• Beautiful design, colors, and materials.
• IP68 ingress protection.
• Bright OLED display with 144Hz refresh rate and excellent refresh rate management.
• Excellent stereo speakers.
• Excellent cooling and thermal performance.
• Excellent all-around camera performance.

Don't buy it if…

• No HDR support.
• Not particularly quick charging.
• No connected video output via Type-C.

FULL SPECIFICATION