Moto G Stylus 2025 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G 2024: The battle for best value

The Moto G Stylus series from Motorola has been our go-to recommendation if you need an Android phone with a bundled stylus. It's not on the same level as a Galaxy S25 Ultra but you're also paying less than half the price. 2024's Moto G Sylus 5G was a fantastic offering for the price, and Motorola has made the 2025 model even better for the exact same $399 price tag.

If you're trying to decide between the Moto G Stylus 2025 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G 2024, we've got you covered. The new model does come with a host of improvements that makes a good phone even better, and offers stiff competition to something like the Samsung Galaxy A36 at the same price. But with the 2024 Moto G Stylus retailing for a lot less, that could still be a good alternative if you're looking to save big. Let's compare both and see which is best for you.

Moto G Stylus 2025 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G 2024: Design and display

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The new Moto G Stylus 2025 retains the same vegan-leather back panel that we all love. The design closely resembles what we've seen on the Moto G Power 2025 and Moto G 2025, making the new Stylus look nearly identical to them with the four cutouts in the camera island. The colors are one way of telling them apart as the 2025 Moto G Stylus comes in Pantone Gibraltar Sea and Pantone Surf the Web, both different shades of blue. This might be disappointing to some since the 2024 Moto G Stylus came in Caramel Latte and Scarlet Wave shades.

The Moto G Stylus 2025 has the same 6.7-inch display size as the older model, but this pOLED panel now sports a higher 3,000 nits of brightness. It's a full-HD resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate, which checks all the boxes.

The Moto G Stylus 5G 2024 has nearly the same dimensions and weight as the new phone, so it won't feel much different. The vegan leather back offers good grip and gives it a classy look. In fact, we thought it looked way more premium than its asking price, and that's always a good thing. We found the display to be fantastic too with good legibility outdoors, despite the peak brightness of 1,200 nits. It too is a pOLED panel with a full-HD resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.

Moto G Stylus 2025 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G 2024: Hardware and specs

The Moto G Stylus 2025 comes with 8GB RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of storage. It's powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 SoC, which on paper, should be slightly faster than the Gen 1 chip in the 2024 model. NFC is present and you get wide 5G compatibility with all the major U.S. carriers. Performance of the new Moto G Stylus should be similar to what we experienced with the 2024 model, which is to say, quite good.

The phone has the same battery capacity as the older one, but charging is way quicker. The Moto G Stylus 2025 features a 5,000mAh battery with 68W TurboPower fast charging and 15W wireless charging. The only catch is that the wired charger needs to be bought separately. The Type-C port is still the USB 2.0 standard but the wireless connectivity has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4.

The camera sensor sizes of both phones are the same, but the 2025 Moto G Stylus uses a Sony LYTIA 700C 50MP sensor which should deliver better low-light images. The secondary camera is a 13MP ultrawide with macro capabilities. The third cutout on the back is actually a 3-in-1 light sensor for more accurate light metering in photos. You get a 32MP camera in the front. The phone can record up to 4K 30fps videos with the front and rear main cameras.

The 2024 Moto G Stylus launched at $399 on May 9, 2024, and the Moto G Stylus 5G costs exactly the same at launch. You can now find the 2024 model for as low as $250 on places like Amazon. This makes it incredibly good value since you're getting some premium features at bargain prices.

We found the performance to be more than adequate too thanks to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 SoC and 8GB of RAM. There's 128GB or 256GB of storage, depending on which region you buy it from. This storage is also expandable, which is a rare sight these days.

We found the battery life to be excellent as well. The 5,000mAh capacity didn't give us the two-day run we expected, but it's good enough to last at least one full day with heavy use. Charging speed is decently quick at 30W, and you get 15W wireless charging too.

The cameras on the Moto G Stylus 2024 really surprised us as we weren't expecting a whole lot. The sensor resolution of all the cameras is the same as the 2025 model, and so are most of the capabilities.

Moto G Stylus 2025 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G 2024: Software

The software experience should be nearly identical on both phones. The 2024 Moto G Stylus shipped with Android 14 along with Motorola's Hello UX customizations. You have acces to the Gemini app and other smart features like AI wallpaper. There's only one OS upgrade planned for this phone though so it won't go beyond Android 15.

The 2025 Moto G Stylus ships with Android 15, and Motorola has pledged two OS upgrades and three years of bi-monthly security updates. Our one big gripe with the 2024 model was the annoying Glance lockscreen program, which we hope has been done away with on the new iteration.

The built-in stylus is one of the main draws for this phone, and it works well. We're yet to test it on the 2025 model but it doesn't seem like Motorola has given it any major upgrades. It's a handy tool to have for quickly taking notes, annotating on screenshots, doing digital signatures, sketching, and so on.

Moto G Stylus 2025 vs. Moto G Stylus 5G 2024: Which one should you buy?

The Moto G Stylus 2025 is easily the better phone compared to the 2024 model. The display is brighter, it chargers faster, it has better ingress protection and durability ratings, it supports newer wireless standards, and the main camera should perform a notch better.

At $400 though, there's also the Samsung Galaxy A36 to consider which has roughly the same specs but with six years (vs. two) of OS upgrades, and a more premium glass back design.

If you're not too fussed about the upgraded features in the 2025 Moto G Stylus, the 2024 model is one of the best cheap phones at nearly $250. But it only supports up to Android 15, and then you won't get any more OS updates. This, plus the significant bump in durability, are solid reasons why the Moto G Stylus 2025 is worth upgrading to.