TechNews
Motorola launches a $1,600 non-folding flagship phone in the US
The Signature 27 pairs a 200-megapixel telephoto camera and 90-watt wired charging with a price matching Samsung's top Galaxy, with preorders opening November 19.
What the reporting says
Motorola is introducing the Signature 27, a non-folding flagship phone priced at $1,600, according to CNET, Wired and Ars Technica. Wired reports it is the company's first ultra-premium candy bar phone in the US in six years, with preorders opening November 19 and sales starting November 26. CNET says the main camera feature is a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom, backed by 50-megapixel wide, ultrawide and front cameras and an Event-Based Vision sensor for fast-moving subjects. CNET also reports 90-watt wired charging, compared with 60 watts on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Ars Technica says the phone runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme chip with a very bright OLED screen, and notes the price sits close to Motorola's own tablet-style foldable. CNET and Wired link rising phone prices generally to memory shortages. The specifications come from Motorola's own announcement and the outlets' briefings, not independent testing.
Read the original reporting
Ars Technica
Motorola's new Signature 27 has it all if you can stomach the $1,600 price tagMy Read
Commentary: opinion, not reporting.
Hello Moto!" Remember that? The iconic greeting from the original Motorola RAZR. I had one. Seems like everyone did, and we loved them. That phone launched for around $500 back in 2004. Motorola never stopped making phones, but somewhere along the way it lost that iconic status. Now it's asking $1,600 for its latest flagship. That's a bold move.
A 200-megapixel camera, 100x zoom, and 90-watt charging sound impressive. But those are marketing numbers until independent testing proves otherwise. And I'd like to know what that fast charging does to the battery after a couple of years.
At $1,600, you're going head-to-head with Apple and Samsung. That's a tough sell. Software support, reliability, service, resale value—those matter just as much as megapixels. I loved my old RAZR, but nostalgia isn't worth $1,600.
Discussion
Would you pay $1,600 for a phone from a brand that isn't Apple or Samsung, and what would it need to prove first?
Covered by 3 of 22 outlets we read, 139 points on Hacker News.