How Long Do Owners Say Motorola Phones Usually Last?

Love it or hate it, Motorola is an iconic phone brand. It's hard to argue against this point, as its legendary moments include launching the first-ever commercially available cellphone in the '80s, creating the first flip phone, and moving over 130 million Razr phones in 2004. Though it's making new devices, Motorola is losing to Apple and Samsung, and also trailing behind manufacturers like vivo and OPPO. Yet, that may not matter as much. Motorola fans argue that despite being seen as a "broke person's phone," the devices themselves are pretty underrated and reliable. 

So how reliable is a Motorola phone? While some users report experiencing issues at the two-year mark and some claim they're only good for a year, the consensus online is that Motorola phones can last anywhere from three to four years with good care. The hardware will likely remain operational, but Motorola has one major problem that keeps it from climbing high on the top phone brand lists: software support. Not only is Motorola slow to roll out software updates, but they're also generally rare, with OS updates expected only about every 3 years. This is, of course, disappointing, considering that Google Pixel users say their phones can last over five years and receive seven years of software updates.

The biggest draw of Motorola is the price. For instance, the Motorola Edge 60 Pro has some heavy-hitter specs, including 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 3.35 GHz processor, and a 50MP camera. This package is certainly capable of delivering premium performance for around $470, which is a great deal.

Motorola phones can also last you quite a long time, at least in terms of the hardware. Horror stories exist, sure. One user claims they changed five Motorola phones in eight years, with each one developing significant issues at the two-year mark. Yet most report getting three to four years out of their devices. There are plenty of outliers, too. One user rocked a Moto Z for eight years, while another reported that their Moto G7 Power has been going strong for nearly seven years, with a battery capacity of 87%.

If you implement a few habits to keep your smartphone operating smoothly, you could also keep a Motorola running like clockwork. However, the issues with software updates could kill your enthusiasm. When a company abandons phones after two years of updates, it doesn't inspire long-term loyalty. Rather, it just makes it seem as if Motorola is trying to "incentivize" you to buy phones more frequently. For cheap models like the Motorola G Play (priced at $200), it might be easier to overlook. For anything more expensive, it's a hard pass. Things get worse when you look at other manufacturers. Both Google and Samsung routinely support devices for seven years, and OPPO promises a six-year update schedule for its budget devices. Compared to them, Motorola's approach is quite disappointing.