You gotta give credit to Motorola: it keeps on trucking, even when other manufacturers have fallen behind. While companies like LG — once a mainstay of the Android realm — has given up on new smartphones, Moto releases countless new devices each year. Today, the company announced new additions to the ever-growing G-series, including its most powerful entry yet.

The Moto G200 5G is a departure for the company, focusing on delivering premium performance and design while undercutting the competition on price. Unlike other G-series phones, the G200 uses a Snapdragon 888+ processor, which still stands as the most powerful mobile chipset developed by Qualcomm. Combined with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage, this phone starts to sound less like a mid-range entry and more like a full-on flagship.

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But Motorola isn't leaving behind affordable pricing with this switch to powerful specs. The G200 will start at €450 when it goes on sale in the coming weeks throughout Europe, with a Latin American launch to follow. That price undercuts similarly specced devices, including the Pixel 6 and OnePlus 9, making it much more difficult to justify picking up either of those phones based on specs alone.

It's worth considering what corners Motorola might've cut to reach this price. The company opted for a 6.8" 1080p LCD panel instead of an OLED screen, but with a 144Hz refresh rate, it should feel smooth and responsive to the touch. It's also using a plastic back and frame, so you can forget about wireless charging. Unsurprisingly, it's shipping with Android 11 out of the box, leaving the phone already behind on software updates before it's even launched.

Then, of course, there's the camera. While it's always a weak spot for Moto phones, the G200 at least has the hardware to go toe-to-toe with the rest of the major players. The company promises the most advanced camera system ever built into a G-series phone, and, at least on paper, it's not wrong. With a 108 MP f/1.9 primary lens, an 8 MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 2 MP f/2.4 depth sensor, and a 16MP front-facing lens, it's certainly a step up from low-end phones like the Moto G Pure. But software tweaks matter just as much as hardware these days, and Motorola has a lot to prove before it can go up against the likes of Google or Apple.

Those nitpicks aside, the G200 sounds pretty promising for around $500. Combined with a massive 5,000mAh battery and the usual add-ons like a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and 33W fast-charging, those specs are tough to beat. Whether Motorola's lackluster software support will leave the phone constantly out of date is another question entirely.

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In addition to the G200, the company announced several other additions to the G-series, including:

  • The Moto G71 5G, featuring a 6.4" 1080p OLED display and a Snapdragon 695.
  • The Moto G51 5G, featuring a 6.8" 1080p LCD 120Hz display and a Snapdragon 480+.
  • The Moto G41, featuring the same 6.4" 1080p OLED display as the G71 5G, but with a 48MP OIS-capable camera.
  • The Moto G31, featuring a 6.4" 1080p "Max Vision" display and a MediaTek Helio G85 processor.

All four phones will be made available in Europe over the coming weeks, with prices ranging between €200 and €300, followed by launches in Latin America, India, the Middle East, and Asia. We'll have to wait and see if any of these make their way to North America in 2022.