First it was Samsung with its Galaxy S25 Edge, followed by Apple with its iPhone Air. Now it’s the turn of a third contender to add an ultra-thin smartphone to store shelves, continuing this sudden trend.

I’m not sure consumers were actually asking for slimmed down phones, but in 2025 that’s what we are getting. Motorola has unveiled the Motorola Edge 70, a £699 Android phone that is 5.99mm thick, which is a tad chunkier than the 5.8mm S25 Edge and the 5.6mm iPhone Air.

Motorola has used the ‘Edge’ branding on its phones for several years, but none have been specifically marketed on their thinness. The Edge 70 is the first phone from the 70 series to hit the market, and if you’re interested in a slighter device, its price is substantially lower than the £1,099 S25 Edge and £999 iPhone Air.

That’s partly because the Edge 70 does not have what Android enthusiasts would call a ‘flagship’ processor. Rather than the top-of-the-range Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the phone runs on the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4. That chipset is not a slouch by any means, but if you want the very best performance for graphics and gameplay on high end mobile games, it might fall short.

Aside from this though, the Edge 70 holds its own on paper while undercutting its rivals on price. You get 12GB RAM, Gorilla Glass 7i protecting the screen, IP68/IP69 for all-round dust and water resistance, and MIL-STD-810H compliant durability.

The Edge 70 is also the lightest of the new breed of thin phones at 159g, less than Samsung’s 163g S25 Edge and Apple’s 165g iPhone Air. That’s down to a lightweight aluminium frame and “nylon-inspired finish”, though Moto spokespeople could not actually confirm what it’s made of. The phone comes in Pantone shades of Gadget Grey, Bronze Green and Lily Pad.

One thing the Moto lacks is a dedicated telephoto camera lens, but it does have a 50MP ultra-wide sensor alongside a 50MP main and 50MP selfie shooter.

There’s also a flash and sensor next to those lenses, making up a four circle, squared off camera bump that does lend a bulge to the top of the phone that takes the, erm, edge, off the thinness, something I’ve found since having the phone in hand for a couple of days.

I’ll need a little longer with the phone before I can review it or give a definitive verdict, but it feels great to hold, and the combination of the slightly curved sides and textured back give the device a nicer feel than the S25 Edge.

I’m less enamoured with the new Moto AI button on the left edge of the phone, which calls up the new AI assistant to delve into image generation, notification summaries, transcriptions, searches, tailored suggestions and more, with options to connect to Perplexity or Microsoft Copilot. To access any of this, you need to sign into a Moto account via email sign up or your Google account.

This Moto AI also can supposedly “add extra precision and accuracy” in images shot with the camera using a “Photo Enhancement Engine”. AI is becoming increasingly hard to avoid on smartphones, and Motorola has well and truly joined the party.

The phone has no charger in the box but can charge wired at up to 68W, and has a 4,800mAh silicon-carbon battery, the new battery tech that is meant to be more energy efficient. There’s also 15W wireless charging, and there’s a plastic case in the box with a magnetic ring to align to MagSafe or Qi2 magnetic chargers, but the phone itself has no magnets.

The Motorola Edge 70 is on sale now for £699.99 from Motorola, with availability also at Vodafone, Three, Currys, Argos, Amazon and John Lewis.

The firm also launched the budget £229.99 Moto G57 Power with an enormous 7,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, and the £49.99 Moto Buds Bass earbuds.