Motorola has unveiled its Signature 27 flagship, after deciding that the best way to get noticed again is to charge $1,599.99.
For that money, buyers get Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 processor with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage. It runs Android 17, with Motorola promising seven years of operating-system upgrades and security updates.
According to 9to5Google, the company has not specified how frequently those updates will arrive. Seven years sounds reassuring, although anyone paying this much might reasonably expect the patches to turn up promptly.
The 6.8-inch tandem OLED display has a 2772 × 1272 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Motorola claims peak brightness of 12,000 nits, a laboratory figure reached in specific conditions, so do not expect the entire screen to maintain that brightness during normal use.
Inside is a 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery with 90W wired charging. Motorola’s small print says the necessary TurboPower charger is sold separately, which seems a bit tight for a phone costing this much.
Wireless charging reaches 50W with Motorola’s own charger. However, 9to5Google reports that other wireless chargers appear limited to 15W, with no apparent Qi2 support.
The main camera uses a 50MP Sony Lytia L910 sensor. A 200MP periscope camera provides 3x optical zoom, while the advertised 100x zoom relies on further processing. A dedicated event-based vision sensor helps the camera track fast movement in Action Shot mode.
Motorola has fitted 50MP ultrawide and front-facing cameras, with Bang & Olufsen tuning the speakers. The handset weighs 227g and has IP68 and IP69 protection ratings.
Motorola says this will be its first handset to support the hardened Android-based operating system, GrapheneOS which is developed through its partnership with the GrapheneOS Foundation.
US pre-orders begin on 19 November through Motorola, Amazon and Best Buy, with unlocked sales starting on 26 November. The available finishes are Coal Smoke and Capulet Olive.
