Motorola has unveiled the Moto G86 5G as the standout model in its latest mid-range lineup, which also includes the Moto G86 Power 5G and Moto G56 5G. The Motorola Moto G86 features a 6.67-inch FHD+ 10-bit curved pOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits. It’s powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, paired with 8GB of RAM, and runs on Android 15. The Affordable Android phone also packs a 50MP main camera and a 5,200mAh battery. While the G86 Power offers a larger 6,720 mAh battery, the 5200 mAh battery in the G86 strikes a balance between performance and sleek design.
Motorola Moto G86 Key Specs and Features
- 6.67 inches P-OLED Display, 1220 x 2712 pixels (~446 ppi density)
- Android 15
- Mediatek Dimensity 7300 (4 nm) Octa Core Processor
- 8GB, 12GB RAM
- 50 MP (wide) + 8 MP (ultrawide) Dual Rear Camera
- 32 MP Front Camera
- Fingerprint Sensor (under display, optical)
- 256GB, 512GB Built-in Storage
- 4G LTE Support
- 5G Support
- 30W Fast Charging Capacity
- 5200 mAh Battery
Design
The Motorola Moto G86 5G enters the mid-range market with a clean, modern design and a refined set of features that strike a balance between everyday practicality and premium appeal. Building on the foundation of the Moto G85 5G, this year’s model introduces a flatter, more cohesive design language, with a polished look and feel that suggests careful attention to both form and function.
At just 7.87mm thick and weighing only 185 grams, the Moto G86 is remarkably slim and lightweight for its class, making it one of the most comfortable mid-range devices to use one-handed.
On the front, the display is a 6.67-inch FHD+ curved pOLED display that is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i, providing added resistance against scratches and minor drops. This display stretches nearly edge-to-edge, with minimal bezels and a small, centered punch-hole cutout for the front camera. It achieves an 89.2% screen-to-body ratio, delivering an immersive visual experience with a premium feel.
The frame of the Moto G86 is made of plastic, but it’s been treated with a matte finish that gives it a clean, modern appearance while maintaining a lightweight build. The side rails gently taper into the display and back panel, creating subtle curves that enhance grip without compromising the flat design.
Around back, the Motorola Moto G86 also features a clean, minimalist layout, with a triple-lens camera system housed in the top-left corner. It’s made of eco-leather, which is essentially a silicone polymer designed to mimic the feel of leather. It has a slightly rubberized texture that feels pleasant to the touch and provides a good grip, reducing the chances of accidental slips.
The square camera module is positioned at the top left corner, wrapped in faux leather, creating a cohesive look from top to bottom. The camera module houses three lenses, though one of them is actually just an ambient light sensor, which might be a bit misleading at first glance because the phone only has a dual rear camera.
This module blends smoothly into the textured back, maintaining a cohesive design. At the center sits the familiar Motorola “M” logo, subtly embossed into the surface.
The rear panel is available in four Pantone colors: Spellbound, Golden Cypress, Cosmic Sky, and Chrysanthemum, though it leans more toward a plastic-like feel in practice.
Additional features include an under-display fingerprint sensor for secure and seamless unlocking, dual stereo speakers, which bring meaningful refinements to Motorola’s mid-range lineup, combining a stylish build with user-friendly features and solid core performance.
The phone’s left side features a slot for SIM cards and microSD cards, while the right side houses the power button, which doubles as a fingerprint sensor, and the volume buttons. The buttons are tactile and produce an audible clicking sound when pressed, giving satisfying feedback. On the bottom, you’ll find the USB-C port for charging, flanked by a 3.5mm headphone jack on the left and a speaker grille on the right.
Display
The Motorola Moto G86 5G features a 6.67-inch P-OLED display that immediately stands out for its brightness, clarity, and color depth. With a resolution of 1220 x 2712 pixels and a pixel density of around 446 ppi, the screen delivers sharp, detailed visuals that are well-suited for everything from casual scrolling to extended video streaming. The taller 20:9 aspect ratio makes multitasking and media consumption more comfortable, especially on a device this slim.
Motorola includes support for HDR10+, giving the display deeper contrast and more vivid color reproduction when viewing supported content. It’s also a 10-bit panel, capable of rendering over 1 billion colors. This results in smoother transitions and more realistic tones — especially noticeable in high-quality photos and HDR videos.
The screen’s 120Hz refresh rate adds an extra layer of responsiveness. Scrolling feels fast and fluid, and animations play back smoothly whether you’re browsing social media or jumping between apps.
Additionally, the refresh rate is customizable, and it offers three modes: 60Hz, 120Hz, and Auto. The Auto mode dynamically adjusts the refresh rate based on the phone’s activity.
For instance, it will ramp up to 120Hz when you’re actively using the phone, but will drop to 60Hz (and sometimes 90Hz) when the screen is idle to conserve battery life. However, it’s worth noting that the phone tends to limit the refresh rate to 60Hz in system menus and certain apps, like Chrome, which means the 120Hz experience isn’t always available throughout the system.
Furthermore, the Motorola Moto G86 touch sampling is quick to register inputs without lag, helping the device feel snappy during everyday use.
One of the most impressive specs is its peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits, which is exceptionally high even by flagship standards. Outdoors, the display remains clearly visible in bright sunlight, and indoors, it looks vibrant without being overly saturated. Combined with the P-OLED panel’s deep blacks and high contrast, the viewing experience is rich and immersive.
Camera
The Motorola Moto G86 camera setup brings some modest upgrades over last year’s model, while maintaining solid performance for a phone in the budget-to-midrange category. At the heart of the system is a 50MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), and phase detection autofocus.
The main camera, built on the Sony LYTIA 600 sensor, performs reliably in well-lit conditions, delivering sharp images with good contrast and accurate colors. It handles everyday photography well, from portraits to landscapes. In lower-light scenarios, Motorola’s Night mode steps in to help brighten scenes and preserve detail. However, results can vary, photos may occasionally come out soft or noisy if your hands aren’t steady, and shadows can sometimes lack depth.
The Motorola Moto G86 also includes an 8MP ultra-wide camera with a 118° field of view. It’s useful for landscape shots or group photos, though image sharpness and edge clarity aren’t quite on par with the main sensor. Still, for a phone at this price point, it’s a welcome inclusion that adds versatility to the camera setup.
There is also an ambient light sensor, which measures the level of ambient light (natural or artificial) and is used to automatically adjust screen brightness in response to changing light conditions, like dimming the screen indoors or increasing brightness outdoors.
There’s no dedicated telephoto or zoom lens, which is expected at this price range. However, the camera app offers a 2x digital zoom shortcut, which delivers passable results for casual use, though finer details may get lost due to image processing.
For selfies, the Motorola Moto G86 sports a 32MP front-facing camera with quad-pixel technology and an f/2.4 aperture. It captures bright, crisp images in daylight, making it a good option for selfies, social media, or video calls. Like the rear camera, it can record video at 1080p/30fps, which is typical for this segment. Image quality holds up well in good lighting, though there’s a noticeable dip in sharpness under artificial or low-light conditions.
The camera app itself is intuitive and comes with useful features like HDR, Night Vision, Portrait mode, and Pro mode, giving users some flexibility without overwhelming them with options. It’s not the most customizable experience, but it covers the basics well for everyday photography.
In terms of video, the rear camera supports 4K recording at 30fps, a nice step up from many budget phones. It also offers 1080p at up to 240fps for slow-motion shots. While the video quality is decent overall, stabilization can struggle during fast movement, and there’s no optical zoom to fall back on.
Hardware and Software
The Motorola Moto G86 delivers solid performance for a budget smartphone, thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, which is a notable improvement built on a 4nm process. This chipset uses a more capable octa-core CPU, with four Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.5 GHz for heavier tasks, and four Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0 GHz for energy-efficient performance. This balanced setup ensures the Moto G86 handles daily tasks with ease, whether it’s streaming, browsing, multitasking, or moderate gaming.
The Mali-G615 MC2 GPU is another welcome step up from previous midrange offerings, providing a more responsive graphics experience. While it won’t rival high-end gaming phones, it’s more than capable for casual to mid-tier gaming and media playback, especially when paired with the high refresh rate displays typically found in this range.
Compared to the Dimensity 6300 found in the Moto G (2025), the Dimensity 7300 offers a noticeable performance uplift, particularly in multitasking and graphics-intensive tasks. It makes the Moto G86 feel more future-proof and better suited to users who keep many apps open or demand a bit more from their device.
The Motorola Moto G86 ships with Android 15 out of the box and sticks closely to a clean, near-stock experience. Furthermore, Motorola promises two Android version updates and three years of security patches, meaning owners can expect updates through Android 17. That’s a welcome commitment in the midrange space, and a clear improvement over older Moto G models, which only received a single OS upgrade.
On the storage front, the Motorola Moto G86 is generous. It’s available in three configurations: 256GB with 8GB of RAM, 256GB with 12GB of RAM, and a top-tier 512GB model with 12GB of RAM. That’s plenty of room for apps, photos, games, and downloads, and with a dedicated microSDXC card slot, users can expand storage even further. This flexibility is a huge advantage, especially for power users and media hoarders.
Battery life continues to be a strong suit. The Moto G86 is equipped with a 5200 mAh battery, which, when paired with the efficient 4nm chipset, ensures all-day battery life with room to spare. It supports 30W wired charging, which isn’t class-leading, but it’s quick enough to get a meaningful charge in under an hour, perfect for users on the go.
In terms of connectivity and features, the Motorola Moto G86 checks all the boxes: 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C 2.0 port for charging and data. These are all standard in today’s midrange phones, but it’s reassuring to see nothing left out here.
Motorola Moto G86 Price and Availability
Motorola Moto G86 price starts at around $279.00 at leading global online stores. It is listed on Amazon stores in the United States, Canada, and Germany for £289.00, CAD $ 649.00, and €259.00, respectively.
Motorola Moto G86 Specs
Here are a few specs of the Motorola Moto G86:
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