The newly launched OnePlus Nord 4 starting at Rs 29,999 directly goes against the Motorola Edge 50 Pro in that segment. Both phones are meant for conversely different kinds of users. So, if you’re unsure about which phone to lean on, this detailed comparison I’ve crafted should clear all your doubts. I’ve spent a good whole week testing the two phones. So, if you’re shopping around for a smartphone under Rs 30,000, which is the better option – OnePlus Nord 4 or Motorola Edge 50 Pro? Let’s find out!
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Specs at a Glance
| Specs | OnePlus Nord 4 | Motorola Edge 50 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 162.6 x 75 x 8 mm | 161.23 x 72.4 x 8.19 mm |
| Weight | 199.5 grams | 186 grams |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 (TSMC 4nm) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (TSMC 4nm) |
| RAM/Storage | 12GB LPDDR5X/ 256GB UFS 4.0 | 12GB LPDDR4X/ 256GB UFS 2.2 |
| Display | 6.74-inch 1.5K + 120Hz LTPS AMOLED, 2772 x 1240 pixels, 450 ppi, 2150 nits peak brightness | 6.7-inch 1.5K + 144Hz pOLED, 2712 pixels x 1220 pixels, 446 ppi, 2000 nits peak brightness |
| Rear Camera | 50MP Main + 8MP Ultra-wide | 50MP Main + 13MP Ultra-wide + 10MP Telephoto with 3x Optical Zoom |
| Front Camera | 16MP | 50MP |
| Video | Up to 4K at 60FPS | Up to 4K at 30FPS |
| Dual SIM | Yes; Does not support eSIM | Yes; Does not support eSIM |
| Connectivity | 9 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, IR Blaster | 15 5G bands, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, IR Blaster |
| Port | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| Battery | 5,500mAh | 4,500mAh |
| Charging | 100W fast charging | 125W fast charging |
| IP Rating | IP65 | IP68 |
| Software | Android 14, OxygenOS 4 years of OS updates | Android 14, Hello UI 3 years of OS updates |
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Box Contents
If you’re worried about the box contents of the two phones, don’t worry. From the compatible respective fast chargers and Type-C cables right in the box to a case and SIM ejector tool, everything’s right there in the box. However, this time, OnePlus provided an ordinary transparent silicone case for the Nord 4, and I’d have liked to see a color-matched case instead like the Edge 50 Pro’s.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Design and Build
After quite some time, OnePlus has used an all-metal body with the Nord 4. I have with me the Obsidian Midnight color of the Nord 4, and I really liked the brushed gunmetal design at the back. It also feels very smooth to the touch, and the metal heft feels very premium in hand.
On the other hand, Motorola’s love for vegan leather is well-reflected with the Egde 50 Pro. I have the Lux Lavender color option of the phone. The phone instantly feels lighter and sleeker in hand. If you prefer leather backs, you’ll instantly develop a soft spot for the Edge 50 Pro. The frame is metal here as well.
However, I noticed that the frame does not meet the back panel at the edges entirely. Due to this, the phone feels sharp and uncomfortable in hand. Besides, in just the three months that we’ve had the Edge 50 Pro, the vegan leather at the back has started scraping off. So, you will definitely need to put on a cover to protect that.
Besides, the camera module placement of the Edge 50 Pro makes it wobble like a water ripple, while the Nord 4 stays completely stable. Both phones have an awkward button placement though, stuffing it all on the right. But, the Nord 4’s buttons are more reliable than that of the Edge 50 Pro’s plastic buttons, although tactile enough.
Taking the overall design of the two phones into consideration, I will easily give the Nord 4 a win here.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Display and Speakers
In terms of display size, the Nord 4’s 6.74-inch AMOLED panel is not much bigger than the Edge 50 Pro’s 6.7-inch pOLED panel. Both displays offer very similar and adequately bright visibility indoors and outdoors. The two panels offer 1.5K resolution as well, with the Nord 4 sporting slightly more pixels. So, what’s the difference?
For starters, the Nord 4 offers a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Edge 50 Pro flaunts 144Hz on its display. Then, when playing HDR videos on YouTube and watching movies on Netflix, I noticed how the Nord 4 was visibly brighter. I also had a bit of trouble watching The Batman on the Edge 50 Pro in a brightly lit indoor setting since HDR brightness was low.
However, non-HDR videos didn’t have that problem, and the Edge 50 Pro appears slightly brighter. But, the Edge 50 Pro saturates colors, making them appear unnatural. Meanwhile, the Nord 4 offers more natural hues and shades, which is a better sight for sore eyes.
Now, while the Nord 4 offers Panda Glass protection on top, Motorola hasn’t revealed anything about the Edge 50 Pro’s display protection. I’m guessing there isn’t any, for the display collected scratches too easily. Here’s a look:
It’s a curved display as well, so you will have to be extra careful with it.
As for speakers, both pack a dual-speaker setup, with the Nord 4 having a dedicated grille for the second speaker while the Edge 50 Pro’s receiver doubles down as one. Talking about the audio output quality, the Nord 4 offers a richer output.
The highs, lows, and mids are well-defined, delivering a better listening experience. The Edge 50 Pro’s Dolby Atmos comes in handy when using earphones. Overall, the multimedia experience is definitely better on the Nord 4.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Software Experience
Out of the box, while the Nord 4 runs on the Android 14-based OxygenOS, the Edge 50 Pro runs on Hello UI. Not too long ago, Motorola dumped its MyUX skin to transition to the Hello UI, and I have been liking it big time, lately. The more seamless UI animations and a revamped Control Center bring a whole new feel to the bloatware-free skin.
On the other hand, the Nord 4 comes with a disappointing 11 pre-installed apps. However, OxygenOS 14.1 brings smooth UI animations throughout and the overall experience is not cheap. It’s just that, in comparison, the Hello UI just looks and feels better.
Hello UI shines brighter in terms of features as well. I’m particularly fond of Hello UI’s Smart Connect, which is much like Samsung Dex. It works extremely well and helps you create your very own ecosystem with your devices. While you can use Multi-Screen Connect with Oppo and OnePlus devices, it’s not as intuitive and has its own limitations.
There are two areas where Hello UI loses to OxygenOS – software support and AI features. The Nord 4’s OxygenOS 14.1 brings AI Eraser, AI Writer, AI Audio Summary, and whatnot. Most importantly, I used these features and they worked really well. That really did make me wonder why Hello UI’s terrible Made by AI generative wallpapers feature even exists.
The haptic feedback integration with the UI is better on OxygenOS though. Hello UI is very inconsistent with haptic integration, and it can get very uncomfortably harsh at times.
The most impressive thing is the Nord 4’s 4 years of major OS updates and 6 years of security patches. On the other hand, you get a 3+4 combo with the Edge 50 Pro, given that Motorola even rolls out those updates timely.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Performance
So far, the Nord 4 has mostly been ahead of the Edge 50 Pro in this comparison race. But, the performance department is where it uses nitro and boosts off way ahead. Comparing the Edge 50 Pro’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 to the Nord 4’s Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 is actually unfair, the latter is just that powerful.
The Edge 50 Pro also brings you slower UFS 2.2 storage and LPDDR4X RAM types. On the other hand, with the Nord 4, you get UFS 4.0 and LPDDR5X. Both are available in up to the 12GB/256GB variants.
This significant difference in performance is clearly visible across all benchmarks, daily performance as well as settings in games. Here’s a rundown of it all:
Day-to-day Usage
While you won’t see much of a difference in medium usage on the two phones, the Edge 50 Pro starts succumbing to heavy usage, displaying minor stutters. To particularly test the phones out, I kept around 30 apps running in the background, and that’s where I saw these stutters.
On the other hand, the Nord 4 handled it all like a charm. RAM management is also better on the Nord 4, while the Edge 50 Pro had a tough time resuming even 5 out of 10 apps from where I’d left them.
Benchmarks
This difference in performance is all too evident in benchmarks as well. I ran a bunch of them, and here’s a quick rundown:
Gaming
The gaming performance of the Nord 4 stands out as well, delivering better frames and more settings in all the games. From CoD Mobile and Warzone Mobile to BGMI and Genshin Impact, I have played all those games on the two phones. Here’s a look at the kind of settings you get on the two in these games:
Games Nord 4 FPS and Settings Motorola Edge 50 Pro FPS and Settings Genshin Impact Highest + 60FPS (Got around 59 FPS and 55FPS in high action scenarios) Highest + 60FPS (40-45FPS) CoD Mobile Max Graphics = Very High + Max
Max Framerate = Low + 90FPSMax Graphics: High + Max (60fps)
Max FPS: Low + Max(60fps)BGMI Max Graphics: Ultra HDR + Ultra
Max Framerate: Smooth + Extreme+ (90FPS)Max Graphics: Ultra HDR + Ultra (40fps)
Max FPS: Smooth + Extreme (60fps)Warzone Mobile Medium + Uncapped + High (Stable 60FPS) Medium + Uncapped + High (Inconsistent 40FPS)
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Cameras
The camera department is where the Motorola Edge 50 Pro looks better on paper, finally. While the Nord 4 comes with a 50MP Sony LYT 600 primary rear camera sensor and an 8MP Sony IMX355 secondary ultra-wide sensor, the Edge 50 Pro comes with a triple rear camera setup.
While the sensor details are not known, the Moto phone sports a 50MP + 13MP + 10MP combo. The 10MP sensor is a telephoto with 3X optical zoom capabilities. At the front, while the Nord 4 features a 16MP sensor, the Edge 50 Pro brings a 50MP selfie shooter to the table.
Enough about the on-paper camera specs of the device. Let’s take a look at how it translates in real life!
Day Time
The Nord 4’s shots instantly appealed to me more during the day. The Motorola Edge 50 Pro saturates the colors way too much, making them appear very artificial. Plus, you get more details out of the Nord 4. However, the Edge 50 Pro has the telephoto advantage, letting you zoom in quite a bit more.
Dynamic range is better on the Nord 4’s shots, with shadows and highlights being balanced out better in comparison to the Edge 50 Pro. Human portraits turn out better with the Nord 4 as well, although both phones offer good depth mapping and edge detection.
The unnatural processing of the Edge 50 Pro ruins the skin tones and surrounding colors, which doesn’t appeal to me one bit. There’s some color disparity between the Edge 50 Pro’s sensors, while the Nord 4 maintains visibly more parity.
Night Time
At night as well, the Nord 4 captures better details. However, it doesn’t handle light sources as well as the Edge 50 Pro. You can see the light sources blowing out by a bit, while the Edge 50 Pro contains them all too well. The Edge 50 Pro doesn’t boost the colors at night as much as it does during the day, which allows the shots to look better for a change.
Selfies
When it comes to selfies though, the Edge 50 Pro captures visibly more details owing to its 50MP sensor. However, the Edge 50 Pro’s selfie shooter washes out the colors instead, thereby changing the color tones by quite a bit. On the other hand, the Nord 4 captures selfies as is, delivering richer yet unsaturated colors.
Videos
Talking about videos, the Nord 4’s primary sensor can shoot up to 4K 60FPS videos. On the other hand, the Edge 50 Pro is limited to 4K 30FPS. However, at the front, the Nord 4 is limited to 1080p 30FPS, while the Edge 50 Pro can do 4K 30FPS as well as 1080p 60FPS.
Since both the setups offer OIS, you get to see stable videos through the rear sensors. However, just like with photos, the Edge 50 Pro slightly boosts colors, which may not appeal to you.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro Battery Life and Charging
When it comes to battery life, the Nord 4 packs a big 5,500mAh battery, while the Edge 50 Pro comes with a much smaller 4,500mAh unit. When testing, in medium usage of playing YouTube videos and playing some games, I got a screen-on-time of 6 hours on the Nord 4. Conversely, the Edge 50 Pro delivers around 6 hours and 43 minutes of screen on time.
The Edge 50 Pro’s Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 doesn’t require as much power as the more capable 7+ Gen 3 powering the Nord 4. So, automatically, the power draw is very low, thereby delivering more SoT.
Charging speeds are similar on the two phones. The Nord 4 impressed me by charging its massive battery fully in just around 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the Motorola Edge 50 Pro takes around the same time to top off its smaller battery with faster charging.
OnePlus Nord 4 vs Motorola Edge 50 Pro: Verdict
It goes without saying that the Nord 4 is the clear winner of this comparison. From a better multimedia experience and solid metal body to being miles ahead in terms of performance, the Nord 4 dusts off the Edge 50 Pro like it’s nothing.
BUT, if you’re in the market for solely a camera-centric device that also brings a bloatware-free UI along, the Edge 50 Pro makes sense. Then again, the Edge 50 Pro’s image saturation may not appeal to everyone, and I like the Nord 4’s primary sensor’s performance better.
The Motorola Edge 50 Pro does capture better selfies though. Also, there’s no denying though that the Edge 50 Pro’s telephoto sensor has the upper hand.
If you need the telephoto sensor and better selfie shooter that badly and don’t mind the performance decrement, you can get the Edge 50 Pro. Ultimately, the software experience is another area where the Edge 50 Pro shines. But, the Nord 4 is the better all-rounder and an easier recommendation from my side. Another capable competitor of the Nord 4 is the Realme GT 6T. Check out our OnePlus Nord 4 vs Realme GT 6T comparison.
