Motorola unveils Moto G 2026 and G Play 2026 with 5G and under $200

Motorola unveiled refreshed versions of its budget Moto G series for 2026, announcing two new phones for North America: the Moto G Play 2026, which goes on sale November 13, and the Moto G 2026, available starting December 11. The devices will be sold unlocked through Motorola and a wide mix of carriers and retailers, with the Play starting at $169.99 and the Moto G at $199.99.

Both phones share a large 6.7 inch LCD that supports a 120 Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness Motorola says can reach 1,000 nits, a 5,200 mAh battery, 5G sub6GHz connectivity, and the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 chipset running Android 16. Each ships with 4 GB of RAM and uses a virtual RAM Boost feature to expand available memory, and both include a microSD slot for up to 1 TB of extra storage. Motorola also bundles its Hello UX software suite alongside access to Google Gemini features such as Circle to Search.

The Moto G 2026 and Moto G Play 2026 differ mainly in cameras, charging speed, and storage. The Moto G features a 50 megapixel main camera with a 2 megapixel macro lens and a 32 MP front-facing camera, 128 GB of onboard storage, and faster 30 watt wired charging. The Play model trims the cameras to...