Motorola's Signature 27 costs $1,599 and brings a 200MP zoom camera and a very bright screen. It is a few hundred dollars above its main rivals.
Motorola has launched the Signature 27, its most ambitious mainstream phone so far, at $1,599. It is aimed straight at Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Max and Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra. Motorola's phone costs a few hundred dollars more than those rivals. It will go on sale in the coming months.
The screen is the headline claim. Motorola says its peak brightness of 12,400 nits makes it the brightest on any smartphone. A nit is a unit of screen brightness, and more nits means easier viewing in sunlight. Motorola also says the display uses less power and lasts twice as long as a traditional AMOLED screen.
Inside is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip. The battery is 7,000mAh, with 90W wired and 50W wireless charging. Motorola also promises seven years of Android system updates, which means the phone should stay current for a long time.
The main camera is a 50-megapixel Sony sensor, joined by a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. The selfie camera is also 50 megapixels and shoots 4K video. The standout is a 200-megapixel periscope zoom camera. A periscope camera turns its lens sideways inside the phone to allow stronger zoom. It offers 3x optical zoom and a 100x Super Zoom mode.
Motorola says an action sensor, the first of its kind on a phone, captures moving subjects without blur. The camera system also earned a DXOMARK Gold Label, according to Motorola's own post.
The body uses ceramic and brushed aluminum. It meets the MIL-STD-810H military durability standard and carries an IP69 rating for dust and water protection. Speakers are tuned by Bang & Olufsen.
The Signature 27 is the first phone outside Google's Pixel line to officially support GrapheneOS. This is a privacy-focused system built on the Android Open Source Project, the open base of Android. People who care about tighter privacy now have a non-Google hardware choice.
This phone suits buyers who want top-tier hardware and do not mind paying extra to avoid an Apple or Samsung. Shoppers who want the lowest price among flagships will find the rivals cheaper.
The Motorola Signature 27 matches the big flagships on specs, but at $1,599 you pay more, so wait for independent reviews before buying.
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