I Tested the New $300 Moto G Power: Great Battery Life but Not Enough Elsewhere

I find the new $300 Moto G Power to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing budget phones I’ve tested. I just wish the 2026 model offered some elevated features and improved functionality to accompany its elegant look. 

For example, my review unit came with the Pantone pure cashmere vegan leather back cover. Its metal-finished sides have a champagne color that complements the back, giving it a classy look.

But I was sorely disappointed to see wireless charging removed from the 2026 model after it was included on previous Moto G Power models, which, to me, provided substantial value for a phone in this price range. Motorola appears to have made up for it by beefing up the battery, along with touching up the cameras. 

I appreciated the improved battery life, which easily stretches into a second day of moderate use on a single charge. I can also take a few nice photos with the camera when there’s good lighting, but indoor and low-light environments can lead to some blurriness. 

Most of these compromises are typical of this price range. Yet what concerns me most is that the 2026 Moto G Power uses the same processor as last year’s model, and is identical to what Motorola includes in the $200 Moto G. At a time when there are an incredible number of affordable phones for people to choose from, it’s disappointing to see how Motorola’s approach undercuts many of the features that made previous Moto G Power models stand out from the crowd. As I tested the new Power, I couldn’t help but question whether this year’s phone offers enough to justify the extra $100, when some aspects feel identical to those cheaper Moto models.

The Moto G Power comes with two years of software updates and three years of security updates, which is a common offering in this price range, but falls short of the six-year commitment Samsung provides for its budget phones. 

Moto G Power (2026) design, features, battery

The Moto G Power’s highlight feature is its 5,200-mAh battery, which easily lasted me nearly two days between charges. While the battery size is the same as what Motorola provides in the cheaper $200 Moto G, I’m glad to see the Power’s two-day battery life, considering it has a bigger, higher-resolution display. 

During a 45-minute endurance test, the Moto G Power’s battery level depleted from 100% to 93% — that’s better than last year’s Power, which dropped to 88%. The Power supports up to 30-watt wired charging, which recharged the battery from 0% to 56% in 30 minutes.

The 6.8-inch 1,080p display does the job when watching YouTube without significantly compromising video quality. I ran the display with the “hypersmooth” refresh rate option, supporting up to 120Hz, and the “vivid” color option. I wouldn’t say it looked particularly vivid, but it provided noticeable smoothness and color compared to the more muted displays on the cheaper Moto G phones. In cooking videos, the food looked good but not especially detailed. 

Audio also plays loudly from the stereo speakers, making the Moto G Power particularly well-suited as a lower-cost media player for music and videos.

Gaming, however, is not a strong suit for the Moto G Power. Since the phone uses the same processor as last year’s Moto G Power and the Moto G, you may need to run games at lower graphics settings to ensure they work well. Most simple games will be fine, but I wouldn’t consider this a cheaper way to let your kid play Fortnite. Titles like the 2D dungeon crawling battles in Dead Cells look fine, but I tried to play Red Dead Redemption, and the opening cutscene seems unable to render characters and scenery.

During our benchmark testing, the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 performed very similarly to the $160 Moto G Play, which also runs on the same processor, although the cheaper phone has less onboard memory and storage. 

And this is where I have some confusion about the ways Motorola justifies the Moto G Power’s $300 price compared to $160 and $200 phones. When it comes to multitasking, the Power just doesn’t feel more powerful.

Even though the phone has 8GB of RAM, which is double the Moto G’s 4GB, I experienced noticeable sluggishness when opening and closing apps, loading games and taking video calls. I’m disappointed that the phone struggles with basic multitasking, such as texting while chatting on a video call. All these tasks work on the phone, but I needed to use Motorola’s RAM Boost feature, which converts a portion of the storage into RAM to help alleviate the bumps. 

Moto G Power cameras

The Moto G Power’s cameras are identical to those of last year’s model. The 50-megapixel main camera is complemented by an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, enabling the phone to be more versatile than the cheaper Moto G baseline phones, which have a single rear camera. The photos turn out OK for the price but aren’t especially detailed in most settings. 

In ideal settings, such as a sunny window, photos taken with the 50-megapixel main camera at 1x and 2x zoom show off my friend’s cat, Charlie, soaking up the sun. Her orange coat fur is visible, although the actual details in her hair blur together when I zoomed in to 2x.

The ultrawide photo has a wider field of view and even picks up some of the scratches on the dining room table. No doubt that this scene’s stillness helped the camera take such a sharp and detailed image.

Scenes with slight motion, however, are noticeably challenging for the Moto G Power, especially in low light. In the nighttime street photo below, a slow-moving car in the scene is blurry. And the ultrawide photo appears even darker since its sensor captures less light.

Although the Moto G Power features a new 32-megapixel front-facing camera, up from last year’s 16-megapixel one, I still feel that the selfie camera struggles with detail. In one selfie I took at the well-lit German restaurant Schmidt’s in Columbus, Ohio, the photo looks like me, but details like my facial hair and skin feel smoothed over by noise reduction.

And in the even darker selfie photo below that I took at nighttime on a New York street, the image is blurry and lacks detail, especially in my hair. 

I feel like the Moto G Power’s cameras are functional for most day-to-day quick photos, but if attending a more special occasion like a wedding, I would probably consider getting a disposable film camera.

Moto G Power (2026) bottom line

I wanted more from the $300 Moto G Power. It’s still a good phone for the price, even though I’m unconvinced by some of its changes. For instance, Qi wireless charging on the 2024 and 2025 editions was excellent, providing more options for using your phone. In 2026, the lack of wireless charging is a notable omission, especially if you’re coming from the 2024 model.

The Moto G Power’s long battery life is where the phone truly shines. It easily powers the big screen, which is great if you prioritize video streaming, browsing websites and using its speakers to play music. I wish the Moto G Power had a slightly more powerful processor, especially compared to its more affordable Moto G siblings. 

If you just need a cheap Android phone and don’t care about having the bigger, higher-resolution screen, you could probably save money and go with the cheaper Moto G or Moto G Play. Or you could consider buying last year’s Moto G Power at a discount.

Although it’s not a particularly powerful phone, the 2026 Moto G Power at least offers a long-lasting battery and an elegant design for its price.

How we test phones

Every phone tested by CNET’s reviews team was used in the real world. We test a phone’s features, play games and take photos. We examine the display to see if it’s bright, sharp and vibrant. We analyze the design and build to determine how it holds up and whether it has an IP rating for water resistance. We push the processor’s performance to the extremes using standardized benchmark tools like GeekBench and 3DMark, along with our own anecdotal observations navigating the interface, recording high-resolution videos and playing graphically intense games at high refresh rates.

All the cameras are tested in a variety of conditions, from bright sunlight to dark indoor scenes. We try out special features like night mode and portrait mode, and compare our findings against similarly priced competing phones. We also check out the battery life by using it daily, as well as running a series of battery drain tests.

We also consider additional features, such as support for 5G, satellite connectivity, fingerprint and face sensors, stylus support, fast charging speeds, and foldable displays, among others, that can be beneficial. We balance all of this against the price to give you the verdict on whether that phone, regardless of its price, actually represents good value. While these tests may not always be reflected in CNET’s initial review, we conduct follow-up and long-term testing in most circumstances.