Motorola's potential Galaxy S23 Ultra rival pops up in TENAA listing

What you need to know

• Motorola's next flagship phone may have appeared on TENAA's website.
• The certification apparently reveals the specs of the upcoming Moto Edge X40.
• The next-generation flagship phone is said to be powered by Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.

Motorola's Edge X30 was among the first devices to be unveiled with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset onboard, and this trend appears to continue with its successor. A new certification from China may have spilled the beans on the upcoming Moto Edge X40.

According to a listing (opens in new tab) on certification agency TENAA's website, Motorola's next flagship phone will have a few upgrades over the Moto Edge X30, most notably in the chipset, camera, and memory departments. The listed device carries the model number XT2301 (via GSMArena (opens in new tab)).

The upcoming phone is expected to have one of the fastest processing speeds with Qualcomm's yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. If this pans out, the Moto Edge X40 will undoubtedly give Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra a run for its money, assuming Motorola's contender makes it to international markets.

The display could be a tad smaller than its predecessor. According to the listing, the Edge X40 will sport a 6.67-inch OLED display with a 1080 × 2400 resolution. Like last year's model, it will supposedly feature a 144Hz refresh rate, which is commonly found in many of the best gaming phones like the Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro.

Motorola fans may also expect more storage variants. Unlike last year's model, which capped out at 256GB of internal storage, the upcoming Edge X40 is likely to be available in a 512GB storage option in addition to the usual 128GB and 256GB configurations. Its RAM capacity also appears to max out at 18GB, potentially through a virtual RAM expansion feature.

On the optics side, the next-gen handset could boast a triple camera setup on the back, comprising a 50MP main shooter and a 50MP ultra-wide snapper. Motorola may also swap out the 2MP depth sensor on last year's model for a 12MP telephoto camera on the Edge X40, which is a welcome upgrade.

It remains unknown when Motorola plans to unveil its Moto Edge X30 successor. If last year's launch window is any indication, we can expect a December launch in China. A global release at a later time is also within the realm of possibility, as the Edge X30 launched as the Edge 30 Pro in Europe and other markets. In North America, Motorola renamed it the Motorola Edge+. The same strategy could be used for the next model.