Two of the most value-packed smartphones you can consider buying right now are the iQOO Z11 and Motorola Edge 70. Both sit in the same price bracket, are aimed at the same kind of buyer, and go about it in opposite ways. The iQOO Z11 leans on the MediaTek Dimensity 7500 Turbo chipset, a 7,050mAh battery, and a 144Hz AMOLED panel. The Motorola Edge 70, on the other hand, has a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset, a noticeably slimmer body, stronger gaming support, and a more premium feel in the hand.
I put both the iQOO Z11 and Motorola Edge 70 through their paces at the Digit Test Labs to answer the one question that actually matters. Which phone deserves your money? Here’s everything I found.
The iQOO Z11 and Motorola Edge 70 could not feel more different in hand, because they take very different approaches to battery and design. The Z11 has a 7,050mAh battery, yet it still comes in at 199 grams and 7.9mm thickness. It also gets IP68, IP69, and MIL-STD-810H certifications, so it should easily handle dust, water, and everyday rough use.
The Motorola Edge 70 takes the opposite route. It’s one of the lightest and thinnest phones you can find right now across budgets, as it weighs just 159 grams and is only 5.9mm thick. Additionally, you get an aluminum frame, a vegan leather back design, and Gorilla Glass 7i on the front. It also has IP68, IP69, and MIL-STD-810H certification.
My one real complaint with the iQOO Z11 is the back panel; it’s so slippery that I found myself adjusting my grip more often than I’d like. Motorola Edge 70’s vegan leather back not only is premium but also feels much easier to hold, even without a case.
The iQOO Z11 has a 6.83-inch 1.5K curved AMOLED display running at a 144Hz refresh rate. The Motorola Edge 70 uses a 6.7-inch 1.5K OLED display refreshing at 120Hz. That higher refresh rate makes scrolling on the iQOO feel noticeably smoother. However, the curve on its display caused one issue: the edges occasionally registered accidental touches while I was trying to take photos. For watching content specifically, I preferred the iQOO’s display; the extra size and refresh rate both help.
Brightness impressed me on both phones, as both are bright enough to use comfortably outdoors, but the iQOO Z11 does have the advantage here. In our testing using a lux meter, it reached around 3,500 nits, compared to 2,580 nits on the Motorola. Hence, both stay perfectly visible outdoors, but the iQOO Z11 simply has more brightness outdoors.
However, Motorola takes the lead when it comes to colour accuracy. In our Calmna testing, the iQOO recorded an average Delta E of 1.23, while the Motorola achieved an excellent average Delta E of 0.63. The Motorola also covered more of the colour range, at 99.22 percent compared to 97.67 percent on the iQOO.
The iQOO Z11 runs on MediaTek Dimensity 7500 Turbo, paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The Motorola Edge 70 comes with the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
In terms of benchmarks, the iQOO Z11 scored 11,07,516 in Antutu, while the Motorola crossed 1.4 million points. In Geekbench, the iQOO scored 1,194 in single-core and 3,271 in multi-core; on the other hand, Motorola scored 1,334 in single-core and 4,248 in multi-core. GPU performance follows the same pattern: 1,161 on 3DMark Wild Life Extreme for the iQOO against 2,082 for the Motorola. The CPU throttling test was close; the iQOO gave 87 per cent stability against 88 per cent on the Motorola.
In terms of gaming, BGMI caps at 60fps on the iQOO, but you can play BGMI at 120fps on the Motorola. Call of Duty Mobile runs at 60fps on the iQOO Z11; however, on the Motorola it runs at 90fps. During longer sessions, the iQOO Z11 warmed up and occasionally showed UI jitter, while the Motorola stayed noticeably cooler throughout.
The iQOO Z11 runs OriginOS 6 based on Android 16, while the Motorola Edge 70 comes with Hello UI, also based on Android 16.
OriginOS feels much smoother than older iQOO software, although you’ll still find some bloatware during setup. Thankfully, most of it can be removed. Motorola’s Hello UI is cleaner from the start and stays fairly close to stock Android.
Both phones also offer plenty of AI features. The iQOO Z11 offers AI writing, AI Caption, Circle to Search, and real-time translation. Motorola Edge 70 counters with Moto AI, Smart Connect, Moto Secure, and Family Spaces. If a cleaner overall experience matters more to you, Motorola wins this one. If you’ll actually use productivity-focused AI tools day-to-day, the iQOO gives you a bit more to work with.
Coming to the cameras, the iQOO Z11 features a 50MP Sony IMX822 main sensor with an 8MP ultrawide and a 32MP selfie camera. The Motorola Edge 70 has a 50MP main, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 50MP selfie camera.
In daylight photos, the Motorola Edge 70 tends to make colours brighter and more punchy, while the iQOO Z11 keeps things closer to how they actually looked in real life. That said, Motorola does capture a little more detail. So, if natural-looking photos matter more to you, iQOO is the better choice. If you want punchier images that stand out on social media, Motorola has the edge.
Portrait shots are a bit more balanced. Motorola creates a smoother, more natural-looking background blur, but it can sometimes make faces look slightly soft. The iQOO does a better job of keeping facial details sharp and handles skin tones more consistently, though edge detection is hit or miss on both phones.
Ultrawide shots aren’t close at all. Motorola’s 50MP sensor captures noticeably more detail, sharper images, and more consistent colours compared to the iQOO’s 8MP ultrawide.
Selfies look equally good on both, with one small difference: the iQOO Z11 tends to brighten the face, and the results look slightly brighter than they actually are. In portrait selfies, the iQOO Z11 handles edge detection better than the Motorola Edge 70.
This is where the iQOO Z11 has a clear advantage over the Edge 70. It comes with a much larger 7,050mAh battery, while the Motorola Edge 70 has a 5,000mAh battery, and our PCMark Battery Test shows the difference.
The iQOO Z11 lasted 22 hours and 37 minutes of screen-on time. The Motorola Edge 70 managed 17 hours and 31 minutes, a genuinely strong result for a phone just 5.9mm thick, but the iQOO lasts noticeably longer. So, if battery life is your main priority, the iQOO Z11 is the clear choice here.
In terms of charging, the iQOO Z11 supports 44W fast charging, and at our Digit Test Labs, it took 1 hour and 46 minutes to go from 0 to 100 per cent. The Motorola Edge 70 supports faster 68W fast charging and finished the same test in around 50 minutes, and the good part is that both phones come with a charger in the box.
If battery life is your biggest priority while getting a new phone, hands down the iQOO Z11 is a better phone. It also gives you a brighter 144Hz AMOLED display and a camera that leans toward natural, realistic colours. It also handles portrait selfies well and keeps facial details cleaner than the Motorola.
The Motorola Edge 70, however, feels like the more complete phone overall. It has a faster Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 processor, better benchmark and gaming performance, a more versatile camera setup, cleaner software, a slimmer, lighter design, and charging that’s nearly an hour quicker. However, it does have a smaller 5,000mAh battery.
In a nutshell, if battery life and natural photography matter most to you, the iQOO Z11 is the right choice. If you’d rather have the more balanced package, stronger performance, better gaming, faster charging, and an overall sturdy hardware experience, the Motorola Edge 70 literally has the ‘Edge,’ and it is the one I’d actually recommend.