The Motorola G Stylus 2025 is impressive on paper

Motorola is refreshing its budget-oriented stylus phone with the 2025 edition of the Moto G Stylus in two bold colors: blue, and for a change of pace, blue. They both come with a “leather-inspired” back panel finish and a stacked spec sheet when you consider its $399 price — though it might come with a side of unpleasant bloatware.

The 2025 Moto G Stylus (Motorola seems to have finally dropped 5G from the name) comes with a chip upgrade: a Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, versus the Gen 1 in last year’s phone. Motorola claims this contributes to its “6.4x improved responsiveness” over the previous G Stylus. Another meaningful upgrade: full IP68 resistance against water immersion rather than the merely water-repellant design of previous years. That’s a big deal in a phone at this price. And believe it or not, there’s still a headphone jack for wired audio, and bless Motorola for keeping it around.

The large 6.7-inch screen is an OLED panel with up to 120Hz refresh rate and a slightly boosted 2712 x 1220 resolution. The main camera uses a Sony Lytia 50-megapixel sensor, and the 13-megapixel ultrawide also offers macro photography. There’s a sizable 5,000mAh battery with up to 68W wired charging or 15W wireless charging. It runs Android 15 out of the box and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.

Robust water resistance, wireless charging, splashy color options? That all reads like a wish list of stuff I’ve wanted from midrange phones for years. But I’ve been burned by midrange Motorola phones before. I mean, not literally burned. I’ve gotten my hopes up based on strong looks and great specs, only to be let down by software that’s updated too infrequently and saddled with bloatware. Motorola hasn’t responded to my question about bloatware on the G Stylus 2025; if it does, I’ll update this article. But in the meantime, I’m not getting my hopes up all over again.

The Motorola G Stylus 2025 will be available unlocked starting April 17th for $399 with availability at all three major US carriers “in the coming months.”