Moto G Play
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Moto G Play (2026) is Motorola’s latest budget phone, priced at just $180.
- It offers bright, colorful visuals, an impressive battery life, and powerful speakers that make the phone great for movie watching.
- However, its low-resolution screen and weak camera performance in low-light environments hold it back.
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Even though we’re still in 2025, Motorola isn’t slowing down. The company has kicked off its 2026 lineup, starting with the Moto G Play<!–>. I previously covered the announcement of these budget handsets and noted how much they resembled last year’s lineup. After spending a week testing the Play, it’s clear to me that similarities run deeper than appearances.
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Internally, the Moto G Play has much of the same hardware as the 2025 Moto G, while introducing only a few meaningful improvements. Sharing certain strengths isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in this case, the overlap feels excessive because many of the same weaknesses are back. Although I will say that it is priced better.
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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Similar to the 2025 Moto G, the Moto G Play features a 6.7-inch touchscreen and a thin layer of faux leather on the back, providing a soft, premium feel. This material, combined with the rounded edges, makes the mobile device a well-built phone that’s comfortable to hold. The screen itself is a mixed bag. It runs at a modest HD+ resolution (1,604 x 720 pixels). As a result, on-screen items appear slightly blurry around the edges, and games lack fine detail.
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However, the display makes up for this lack of high quality in other areas. Colors are vibrant, brightness peaks at 1,000 nits for clear outdoor viewing, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling buttery smooth. Even something as simple as browsing the internet for Black Friday deals felt great on this panel.
Complementing the display are a pair of Dolby Atmos speakers delivering surprisingly rich audio for a budget phone. The sound output even has a bit of punchy bass and depth, outperforming what I get from my pricier OnePlus 13R. What’s interesting to me is that the Moto G Play isn’t being marketed as a “mini movie theater”, but it manages to accomplish the same goal. It’s an excellent phone for streaming and consuming media.
Powering the Moto G Play is the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC (system-on-a-chip) paired with 4GB of RAM, which can be expanded to 12GB using the RAM Boost feature for improved performance. When the 2026 lineup was announced, I fully expected Motorola to move up to the newer Dimensity 6400 chipset. However, it appears the company adopted the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach and stuck with the 6300. To be fair, it still performs pretty well.
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The SoC handles most apps without issue. Jumping between Chrome, YouTube, and the camera app felt seamless. Streaming movies on Netflix went off without a hitch. Performance did falter in the face of demanding mobile games. I tested titles like Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact to see if this model could handle the games better than the 2025 device did; unfortunately, it didn’t.
If anything, it got worse. The mobile device stuttered more frequently while running the games, and even froze a few times, although I believe the poorer performance is due to the graphical load. Recent updates have ballooned the file sizes for the two titles.
However, if the game is less demanding, things are much better. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: a 2D side-scroller available through Netflix’s arcade service, ran perfectly. It’s clear that Motorola’s latest phone is designed for casual entertainment, rather than heavy gaming.
Improved camera
One area where the Moto G Play saw big changes was its camera system. On paper, it may look like a downgrade compared to the previous model, but I actually liked it more. The rear camera now features a 32MP sensor, down from 50MP, while the front camera is equipped with an 8MP lens.
One of my main complaints about the 2025 Moto G was its tendency to oversaturate color in photographs, making them look overly bright and unnatural. That issue has been addressed on the Moto G Play, with the device now producing better color-balanced images. The phone does struggle in low-light environments. Photos taken under those conditions exhibit noticeable noise, especially when zoomed in. It doesn’t ruin the shot, but the difference compared to daylight photos is significant.
Under optimal lighting conditions, the pictures taken by the Moto G Play look fantastic. I took the smartphone to my local park and beach, where I took numerous photos during the midday and sunset hours. Everything looked great; pictures came out highly detailed. Below is one of the pictures that I took with the Moto G Play.
Our website compresses images, so the quality may not be the same as when viewed on a phone. Still, I think it looks great and showcases what the Play is capable of.
As for camera features, the Moto G Play keeps most of what the 2025 Moto G had, although some of them aren’t listed on Motorola’s website. Burst Shot, for example, is present. It’s activated when you hold down the shutter button. Tools like the Assistive Grid and Leveler are back, as well. The only real omissions seem to be the little extras, like the barcode scanner and Face Touch.
Battery life is also quite solid. During testing, I used the model as my primary device, watching videos, making calls over WhatsApp, and browsing the internet, among other activities. Motorola’s phone managed to last well over 24 hours on a single charge. Recharges are a little slow. After being plugged in for 30 minutes, it went from a dead battery to 25%, which is decent when in a pinch, but nowhere near a full-day battery.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The Moto G Play<!–> currently retails for $180 through Motorola’s website, Amazon, and Best Buy. It comes in a single color, PANTONE Tapestry (a grayish blue). I’d recommend this budget smartphone to anyone in the market for an affordable, dependable mobile device. It delivers nearly the same experience as last year’s model, all at a lower cost.
If you’re willing to pay a more, consider the Moto G Stylus. It comes with a 6.7-inch AMOLED Super HD touchscreen and a 50MP Sony LYTIA 700C camera.
