Motorola Moto G86 5G Review

Design

• Unique Woven texture rear
• Complementing Chrome trim
• Barely any bezel

The Moto G86 5G retains most of what made previous iterations of the Moto line stylish and standout phones. Vibrant colours like Cosmic Sky and Chrysanthemum pair perfectly with its luxury rear woven textures to become its extension of your outfit.

The chrome rim around the bezel catches the light whether you want it to or not, while the metallic frame looks clean if you can excuse the EU regulatory markings along the bottom.

Flip it over, though, and you’ll see the first eye-catching design trend of this year’s Moto mid-range chatterbox. Instead of the faux leather finish of some other Moto models, this one opts for a gorgeous woven look that begs for attention at the coffeehouse table.

And if you’re adamant about keeping it looking pristine (which you absolutely should), you’re in luc– the Moto G86 5G includes a tough case in the box. Better yet, it’s in another divine (and likely more durable) signature speckled stone style reminiscent of a kitchen countertop. Fancy.

This case keeps all the buttons, ports, and necessary holes exposed, but offers ample protection for the corners that would otherwise be likely to attract scuffs and bumps. Most importantly, it keeps that neat rear finish free of general wear and tear from your pockets.

Screen

• Bright P-OLED display with HDR
• Clear “HD+” 1220 x 2712 resolution
• Snappy 120Hz refresh rate

Another area that helps the Moto line stand out in the sea of bargain machines is its screen – a wide, 6.67-inch P-OLED panel with a tight 89.2% screen-to-body ratio. That means almost invisible bezels right the way around, helping to maximise the bright colours and dark blacks that OLED is capable of producing.

And while it won’t mean much for checking out the latest Netflix hit, the 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling (and more importantly, gaming) as smooth as it needs to be. Mileage will vary in the latter example, but I will touch on that in the performance section. It’s a premium panel by most metrics – it just needs the power to draw the frames needed to make use of it.

To put it to the test, I cranked up the brightness and blinded myself with the oh-so-smooth and vibrant K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix.

It’s a sublime way to watch colourful cartoons, HDR epics, and even gloomy thrillers. It’s bright, it’s wide, it’s smooth, and it’s the right resolution for its size and spec. The Dolby Atmos branding can only do so much with its stereo speakers, but they’re loud and clear enough for casual content. Just don’t expect rich, full bass if you’re blasting tunes in the park.

Performance

• Decent Mediatek Dimensity 7300 SoC
• Between 8–12GB RAM
• Very capable Mali-G615 MC2 GPU

Managing to scrape over 1000 points in the Geekbench 6 single-core puts the Moto G86 5G just around 10% above last year’s Moto G85 5G. It’s not a huge jump, but certainly worth mentioning.

Where things see a massive improvement is in multi-core results, with the Mediatek Dimensity 7300-equipped 8GB G86 seeing a roughly 33% improvement over its predecessor. Considering it’s retailing for around 25% less than last year’s 12GB model, that is impressive.

Now, is that as powerful as that ageing iPhone 13 Pro Max you know someone is still holding onto? Well, no. This 2025 phone clocks in at around 50% of the power of the four-year-old handset. But given that Apple’s device retailed for around 5x the price at launch, it’s a great example of improvements trickling down to the figurative bargain bin.

But those are just numbers on a spreadsheet. What matters is real-world performance, which is frankly superb. Smooth scrolling is a given thanks to the speedier chipset, multitasking is just fine with the “still enough” 8GB of memory, and snapping shots takes no time at all.

The chipset can also handle most of today’s taxing mobile titles without too much trouble. Open world adventures might tax it, but the super-stylish and fast-paced action game Zenless Zone Zero managed 60fps on the highest settings. Action would cause dips to around 45fps, but a little tweak to the settings soon ironed things out.

The large, vibrant, and smooth display makes it a dream to play games, watch movies, or loaf about on the web. Competitive types will get what they need out of games like League of Legends Wild Rift, but expansive adventures like Genshin Impact will still feel just fine on lower settings.

Cameras

• 50MP rear wide lens
• 32MP Selfie shooter
• Ultrawide, macro, and flash

Rocking a 50MP wide main shooter with OIS on the back, the alien-like square camera array also hosts an 8MP ultrawide lens, a depth sensor, and a bright flash for situations that can’t be handled by its impressive nighttime algorithm alone.

On the front, you get a 32MP wide lens capable of 4K video. With HDR to boot, you can expect some particularly accurate selfies, whether you appreciate them or not.

Video calls are crisp, and any short-form video you’re recording should come out just fine. For the price, it’s an impressive system that’s more than capable of satisfying most amateur photographers.

I took it for a little spin around a shared office space and snapped shots with plenty of detail, depth, and accurate colour. Portrait mode handled a round piece of pottery perfectly, with virtually no sign of any wonky edge detection. Selfies came out a little too sharp, but it’s a generally great performance for the price.

Software

• Android 15
• Heavy bloatware
• Years of support

One area where the Moto series sheds a little of its worth is in the software and apps department. Running Android 15, setup is far from an issue, but the result is a phone that doesn’t feel wholly yours out of the box.

This is due entirely to the massive weight of the pre-installed apps package. Though you are presented with a suggested list of partner apps to download during setup, I actually struggled to skip the step entirely, with a barrage of them being added to the download list as soon as I got to the tail-end of user setup.

Of the lot, you get games like Candy Crush, Raid Shadow Legends, and budget puzzle titles over to social media platforms like TikTok, LinkedIn and Facebook. Perhaps most annoying is the thrusting of AI apps like Copilot and Perplexity and shopping platforms like Booking and Temu.

And while I commend the inclusion of the typical Google suite you’d expect on an Android phone, Motorola will pack a little Moto folder on the home screen with first-party apps for security, wellbeing, and multi-device continuity Smart Connect.

It’s nothing you can’t solve with some selective deleting, but it’s one way the Moto G86 won’t feel like a device you paid for with your own money until you dance with some annoyingly necessary startup clean-up.

Battery Life

• 5200mAh battery
• 30W charging
• No included charger

The 5200mAh battery powering the Moto G86 5G experience is a strong one, but hardly above average in terms of actual screen-on time.

Put through the paces of our typical battery tests involving average Netflix usage and a stint of gaming, the cell dropped a very predictable 6% and 8% respectively. The latter will depend entirely on the type of gaming experience you prefer and represents the very top-end of what to expect, whereas the Netflix score should match most scenarios.

You can expect very average battery life from this, essentially. These days, though, that’s hardly a bad thing. And with 30W charging available through just about any after-market adapter or power bank, you can juice it back up in no time at all – around 15% in just as many minutes on a 30W plug.

That means a completely kaput device can get back up to a full charge, easily capable of lasting a whole day, in around 90 minutes. You can’t ask for more.

Should you buy it?