NEW YORK—I spent five hours with the Motorola Signature 27, and unfortunately for Apple, Samsung, and Google, it’s a serious challenger that may disrupt a luxury market gone stale by Pro Maxes, Ultras, and Pro XLs. Motorola says it’s packed with world-leading specs, from having the world’s brightest screen to being the first smartphone with a dedicated EVS action sensor for the camera. However, those marquee features come with a jaw-dropping $1,599 price tag.
With that in mind, I used my brief time with it to see if Motorola’s latest truly has the moxie to rattle the Big Three.
Vegan Leather on a $1,599 Phone?
The Signature 27 looks like a four-eyed robocreature that would blend right into a Transformers movie. The back features a quadruple-lens setup housed on a metallic panel that dips slightly into a textured, olive-green lower half.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)
If there’s one thing Motorola does better than its rivals, it’s designing phones that are interesting to touch. That’s why I was surprised by how underwhelming the Pantone Capulet Olive finish felt. Motorola says it’s an “elevated,” textile-inspired texture, but the resemblance to fabric is mostly a visual trick. It looks like woven material, but to the touch it felt flat and anticlimactic. Being made of polyurethane composite—sometimes called vegan leather—doesn’t do it any favors. At this price, it lacks the tactile magic of the Razr Ultra, which spoils your fingertips with finishes like Alcantara and real wood.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)
The Signature 27 is also available in Pantone Coal Smoke, featuring a weave-like finish inspired by automotive materials. I didn’t see that version, but I have a feeling it would be more my speed. Even if it suffers from the same disconnect between appearance and feel, I’m a sucker for a classy black design.
Motorola delivers where design matters most: durability. It’s got a sturdy aerospace-grade aluminum frame, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 for scratch protection, MIL-STD-810H certification for military-grade drop and shock resistance, and IP68 and IP69 ratings to keep dust and water out.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Plus, the Signature 27 is shockingly svelte. Packing a massive 7,000mAh battery, I was expecting it to feel like a brick. However, the Signature 27’s 0.31-inch profile matches the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and beats the 0.34-inch iPhone 18 Pro Max. At 0.50 pounds, it’s lighter than Apple’s flagship (0.55 pounds), but it trails the 0.47-pound S26 Ultra.
World’s ‘Brightest’ Display—With an Asterisk
According to Motorola, the Signature 27 has the “world’s brightest display” at 12,000 nits on a 6.8-inch, 120Hz, 1.5K screen. Dig into the small print, and it turns out that 12,000-nit rating only applies to a 1% sliver of the screen. The more realistic brightness figure for everyday outdoor use is 3,000 nits in High Brightness Mode.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)
The best way to test brightness is in bright, direct sunlight, but I got my hands on the Motorola phone later in the day, so that wasn’t possible.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
I still stepped outside just before sunset to give it a look, and everything on the screen stayed crisp, clear, and easy to read.
The 200MP Telephoto Camera Is Limited
Testing the Signature 27 at an NBA game at Madison Square Garden, I jumped straight to the 200MP telephoto camera, only to be let down by its 3x optical zoom limit. Everything beyond 3x is handled digitally, with a maximum of 100x. Bummer!
Where the 200MP telephoto camera really excels is tight framing and ultra-detailed, high-resolution shots. Look at this stunning close-up of a Whiskey Sour. (The original 200MP file was too large for our CMS to handle, so I had to compress it, but the amount of retained detail is remarkable.)
200MP Optical Zoom, 3x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
It perfectly captured the tiny bubbles in the frothy foam, the dimpled peel of the orange slice, and the reflections in the glass base.
At the New York Knicks versus Cleveland Cavaliers game, zoom shots looked decent under the 15x range.
Digital Zoom, 15x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
However, if you go beyond that, things start to look a little strange. I took these shots of Jalen Brunson and James Harden at 100x.
Digital Zoom, 100x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Digital Zoom, 100x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
To give the camera credit, the images still keep some semblance of the basketball players’ faces, but heavy AI processing made them look like waxy, soft-focus paintings with smeared hairlines and slightly creepy eyes.
A Capable 50MP Main Camera
The Signature 27 also features a 50MP main camera that uses a large 1/1.28-inch Sony Lytia L910 sensor as well as a 50MP ultrawide shooter with a 122-degree field of view. I snapped some shots with the main camera, and it performed fine.
50MP Main Camera, 1x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
The charcuterie board had excellent color reproduction. I could make out the textures in the salami, cheese, grapes, and more. Plus, it handled the contrast between the brightly lit food display and the dark countertop.
50MP Main Camera, 1x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
The Madison Square Garden shot above was challenging due to the tricky indoor lighting; even with some haze, the wide lens handled it well without collapsing into mud. Overall, the Signature 27’s main camera is good, but perhaps not category-leading.
World’s First Dedicated EVS Action Sensor
The Signature 27 has the world’s first dedicated EVS action sensor. In other words, it’s got a separate motion-tracking sensor that tracks rapid movement, allowing it to capture blur-free shots. Does it work? See for yourself.
Here’s a shot of the game with Action Shot off.
Action Shot Off (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
And here’s a capture with Action Shot on.
Action Shot On (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Side by side, it’s clear the sensor did a great job keeping blur at bay with Action Shot turned on.
Impressive Nighttime Capture
With access to the Signature 27 at night, I got to test the main 50MP camera’s mettle in low-light conditions.
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50MP Main Camera, 1x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
The Signature 27 did a great job at balancing the bright, fiery sunset against the dark cityscape. It preserved plenty of color in the sky without transforming the buildings into complete silhouettes. There was also a good amount of detail throughout the shot, from the illuminated windows to the distant skyline. Of course, it’s not perfect. Some foreground buildings were a little too dark, with details getting lost in the shadows. Still, for a smartphone, the dynamic range and color reproduction are impressive.
50MP Main Camera, 1x (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
Check out the shot above. It looks natural, and there’s relatively little visible noise in the darker areas. Individual windows are distinct and visible, and the contrast between the illuminated buildings and dark night sky looks well balanced.
Heavenly Audio Courtesy of Bang & Olufsen
The Signature 27 is the only smartphone on the market with Bang & Olufsen-tuned audio, so naturally, I had to see if music actually sounded like angels tickling my ears. I went in skeptical, but it gets surprisingly close.
(Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
I fired up Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” via YouTube Music, and even during a brief listen, the audio sounded warm, rich, and full-bodied. Digging around, I spotted a dedicated Bang & Olufsen app offering six EQ presets: Standard, Music, Movie, Game, Podcast, and Custom. While Standard is the default, switching to the Music profile made the track sound even sweeter and smoother, especially when the guitars kicked in.
Tapping Music or Custom pulled up deeper audio controls. The Music preset offered an interactive curve for adjusting bass, treble, and vocals, along with a Surround Virtualizer toggle that simulated a surround-sound effect on the Signature 27’s coaxial stereo speakers. On the Custom page, I spotted a 10-band user-adjustable graphic equalizer, giving me more granular control over the sound.
It gets quite loud, too. Even with a lot of chatter in the background, Langley’s tune still punched through the noisy environment.
A Phone That Wants to Be Your Personal Assistant
The Signature 27 runs Android 17, backed by seven years of OS and security updates. Overall, navigation felt snappy and effortless during my hands on time. The Motorola phone is one of the first to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, which is designed to handle agentic AI tasks on your behalf, like drafting replies, managing calendar invites, or booking restaurant reservations.
Rambler (Credit: Kimberly Gedeon)
I didn’t get the chance to test those agentic capabilities, though I did experiment with lighter tools like Rambler and Motorola’s native Qira assistant, both of which ran pretty smoothly.
Big Promises at a Steep Price
My experience with the Signature 27 brought me back to earth, starting with that asterisk on Motorola’s claimed 12,000-nit brightness. Still, there’s plenty to get excited about here. Yes, the 200MP telephoto camera maxes out at 3x optical zoom, but the high-resolution shots it captures are incredible. I’m less sold on the heavy AI processing that kicks in when you push the digital zoom too far, though that’s an industry-wide trend (ahem, Google). Fortunately, the dedicated action sensor lives up to the hype, delivering blur-free, action-packed photos of my favorite NBA stars. The Bang & Olufsen-tuned audio is also a huge win, offering a warm, rich, and deep sound that is booming.
The Signature 27’s $1,599.99 price tag is jarring, even if its 12GB/512GB configuration matches the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra on both specs and cost. By comparison, the iPhone 18 Pro Max offers the same memory and storage for $100 less, at $1,499. I just wish Motorola offered a more affordable 256GB base model to soften the blow.
It’s still too early to tell whether the Signature 27 can dethrone some of the more established flagships. I’ll do a deeper dive into the Signature 27 when I get it in for testing, but it’s off to a promising start. Preorders kick off on Nov. 19, and it will hit store shelves on Nov. 26.
About Our Expert
Kimberly Gedeon
Senior Writer, Mobile
Experience
I’m PCMag’s Senior Writer for Mobile on the Consumer Electronics team, diving into the latest phones, tablets, Bluetooth speakers, audio devices, and other portable gear. I’ve been covering consumer technology for six years. Before joining PCMag, I contributed my tech expertise to Laptop Magazine, Mashable, Tom’s Guide, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, and more.
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