Motorola Moto G53 review

Design

The overall look of the Moto G53 can best be described as minimalistic, non-intrusive and dignified. It’s the kind of phone that will blend right into any environment. This is partly due to its colorway. The phone can be had in either Ink Blue, Arctic Silver or Pale Pink. All of the colors are very tame.

The Moto G53 strikes a nice balance between a boxy overall look and subtle curvature for in-hand comfort. The middle frame, for instance, is pretty flat along its straights and then curvy around the edges.

While the back of the G53 is flat, it does have a chamfer at the very edges. One that is met by the chamfers on the middle frame, which is kind of a particular look for sure. The camera island looks pretty boxy, too, but it also features rounded corners and a chamfer.

The front of the G53 is almost perfectly flat. However, the display bezels extend down and make for a black “ring” of sorts that goes around the entire device.

Construction-wise, the G53 consists of three distinct parts – the display assembly at the front, a flat back panel and a middle frame sandwiched in between.

Build quality

The phone feels very solid with practically no flex. There is no hollowness to the back side either, which is something you might see on lower-end devices.

The G53 is made with a plastic back and plastic middle frame. The back, however, does a convincing job of imitating frosted glass, while the frame looks just like metal. Both surfaces are pretty easy to keep clean and do not retain a lot of dirt and grease.

The front of the G53 is covered with glass, though we don’t officially know exactly what kind and what drop and scratch resistance we can expect from it.

Speaking of resistance, the G53 features a water-resistant design and Motorola’s signature nano-coating on the inside. There is no official ingress protection rating, though.

Controls

The Moto G53 has a perfectly standard set and layout of controls. The volume rockers and power button are on the right-hand side of the device. These are well-positioned in terms of height and are easy to reach. However, they don’t feel particularly good to press but rather mushy with poor tactile feedback.

The power button actually doubles as a very skinny fingerprint reader. We found it works just fine and is both snappy and reliable. No complaints there.

The left side of the frame houses a single Nano-SIM slot on a tray right next to the dedicated microSD storage slot.

The top side of the G53 just has a single tiny hole for the secondary noise-canceling mic. Also, a Dolby Atmos logo.

Indeed, the G53 has Dolby Atmos support. There is also a stereo speaker setup. We find a single bottom-firing speaker on the bottom of the phone while an amplified earpiece handles the second channel.

Also on the bottom of the phone is a 3.5mm audio jack, the main microphone and a USB Type-C port.

In case you were wondering, there is no notification LED on the Moto G53.

Connectivity

As we mentioned, one of the highlights of the Moto G53 compared to its predecessor is the inclusion of 5G connectivity. It comes courtesy of the X51 5G/LTE modem integrated inside the chipset. It should support theoretical max download speeds of 2.5 Gbps on 5G and up to Cat 15 (800 Mbps) on LTE.

The G53 and its Snapdragon 480+ offer dual-band Wi-Fi ac and Bluetooth 5.1 with LE for local connectivity. There is also GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS support and NFC. Though the latter is market-dependent. There is no FM radio, but there is a 3.5mm audio jack.

The Type-C port on the G53 is only wired for USB 2.0 data connectivity (up to 480 Mbps), but it does have USB Host (OTG) functionality. While Motorola does not advertise its “ready for” platform for the G53, we nevertheless tried, and there is indeed no video output from the Type-C port.

The G53 has a slew of sensors on board. There is an accelerometer and gyroscope combo (BOSCH bmi3x0), a magnetometer and compass combo (MEMSIC mmc56x3x) and a light and proximity sensor combo (AMS AG tmd2755). There is no barometer on board.

Fast IPS display

The Moto G53 comes with a 6.5-inch, HD+ IPS LCD display. Its predecessor – the G52, has a 6.6-inch, FullHD+ OLED display at its disposal. So, quite the obvious downgrade. The only silver lining is that the display can now refresh at 120Hz instead of 90Hz.

The G53 doesn’t offer amazing display performance, but it is decent enough for its price point. In terms of brightness, we managed to measure 489 nits on the slider, with a max auto boost to 599 nits in bright outdoor conditions. Neither figure is super impressive. We did struggle a bit using the G53 outdoors in direct sunlight.

The Moto G53 has two color modes – “Saturated” and “Natural”. The default saturated mode aims for the sRGB color space and covers it well. Its color profile is a bit cold for our taste, but it can be corrected using the included temperature slider.

Color modes

Natural mode also aims for the sRGB color space and basically nails it with deltaE values low enough for it to be considered color-accurate.

The G53 has no HDR support and reports no decoder support in software, either.

HDR support • DRM info • Netflix playback properties

On the Plus side, it does have the highest possible Widevine L1 certification, allowing streaming services like Netflix to offer it HD quality and saturate its display resolution.

High refresh rate handling

As already mentioned, the Moto G53 has a 120Hz display. It offers a total of three refresh rate options in settings – 60Hz, 120Hz and Auto mode. The first two are really straightforward – the phone is simply set to a static 60Hz or 120Hz, and that’s that.

Display refresh rate options • Available display refresh rate modes

However, 60Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz are not the only refresh rate modes available on the G53. That list actually includes 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. There is no 48Hz mode, as we have seen with other Motorola phones. Auto refresh rate mode promises Ai-driven automatic refresh rate switching and delivers on that promise as well, with a very dynamic and content-aware system in place.

What basically happens in practice is that the OS actively monitors what is currently on screen. If it sees any motion, it then determines whether it requires a boost up to 90Hz or higher to 120Hz and acts accordingly. The system works exceptionally well in our experience.

Here is a quick video showcasing how well Auto refresh rate mode detects things like the BlurBusters UFO test in a browser and then a video playing in both a local player and YouTube and switches to the optimal refresh rate on the fly.

Automatic refresh rate mode wasn’t perfectly reliable when it came to high refresh rate gaming. We tried a few titles we know can render at over 60fps, and in some cases, the Moto G53 did trigger its 120Hz mode to accommodate that, while in others, it worked at 60Hz.

Games running in Auto mode

Setting the display refresh rate to a fixed 120Hz did not fix the issue, with the Moto still insisting on running some games at 60Hz. Thankfully, you can still override this by selecting a refresh rate on a per-game basis using the Moto Play interface, which is great to see.

Gaming with a forced refresh rate

Overall, despite a few oddities here and there, we are quite impressed with the dynamic, accurate and content-aware way automatic refresh rate switching works on the Moto G53. It has one of the better systems around.

Battery life

The Moto G53 has a hefty 5,000 mAh battery on board. Also, the Snapdragon 480+ has already proven in the past to be a very efficient chipset. It does not disappoint here either, with the Moto G53 scoring an excellent endurance rating of 123 hours in our proprietary test. This falls in line perfectly with other Snapdragon 480+ devices like the Moto G51 and Moto G62.

The Moto G53 excels particularly well in off-screen network tests. The X51 5G/LTE modem integrated inside the Snapdragon 480+ is proving to be quite efficient as well.

Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.

Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display’s highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we’ve tested.

Charging speed

There is no point beating about the bush – the Moto G53 charges slowly. Painfully so. We honestly have no idea why Motorola decided to remove its support for TurboPower charging. Its predecessor, the G52, has 30W charging. Even the lower-end Moto G23 has the feature. Unfortunately, the G53 is stuck with basic 10W charging, and we have to dock some major points for that.

When we say basic, we do mean basic. The charger bundled with the Moto G53 is rated for an output of 5V@2A. That’s as standard USB power as it gets. Using that, we were able to get the G53 from dead to just 12% in 15 minutes and then 22% in 30 minutes. A full charge took us a whopping 2:35 hours.

Speakers

The Moto G53 has a hybrid stereo speaker system, with one channel being handled by a dedicated bottom-firing speaker and the other by an amplified earpiece. This is a pretty common solution.

The speakers on the G53 are not particularly well balanced because of this trait, but on the plus side, they do get pretty loud. That’s both a pro and a con, though, since there is a lot of distortion at high volume, especially from the top speaker/earpiece. At least you can rest assured that you will always hear your phone ringing.

The Moto G53 is mostly unexceptional but overall decent in terms of output quality. It sounds decent-enough to our ears at moderate volumes with nice vocals, some bass and slightly muddy treble.

Motorola has also included Dolby Atmos on the G53. It offers a very robust set of equalizers with more than a few presets to choose from.

Dolby Atmos

The default Smart Audio option does a great job automatically optimizing for most scenarios, though, so we would recommend just sticking with that.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal “0db” flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Clean Android 13

Being a Motorola phone, the Moto G53 runs a very clean, nearly AOSP-looking version of Android 13 with just a few Moto mods on top. We still believe that this clean appearance is a selling factor generally applicable to all Moto devices.

The Quick Settings and notification shade are pretty distinct in recent AOSP versions with big and bubbly buttons, of which you only get four on the first pull, up to 8 on the second, and the full-screen notification shade.

On to widgets, which saw an overhaul with Android 12. The widget picker offers responsive previews for differently-sized widgets. The new API supports dynamic coloring by tying into the Material You theming engine, allowing the widgets to adapt to the wallpaper.

Quick settings • Notification shade • Widgets

The Material You auto-theming feature is here, too, though it’s masked behind a slightly customized Moto-specific theming engine. You can still get wallpaper-based accent colors, which will apply to Google apps and the settings menu. Motorola also has a separate Interactive wallpapers app from which you can download a number of dynamic wallpapers.

Theming and interactive wallpapers

As is usually the case, Motorola has added a handful of useful extras. They are all placed in a Moto settings app that lists them in categories. The Moto app itself has a new look.

Moto app

The first category is personalization – that’s where the OS-native auto-theming found a foster home. There is also a wide selection of Moto wallpapers in addition to Google’s own, plus the option to leverage AI to create your own from the photos in your gallery.

Then come the gestures. By now, you must have seen Moto’s karate chop motion that turns on and off the flashlight and the twisting motion that launches the camera app. Both work even when the device is locked.

The lift-to-unlock gesture works well with the face unlock, as it unlocks the device as soon as you pick it up and look at the screen. A swipe-to-split function is available, too – it triggers split-screen multitasking. You can also double-tap the back of the phone to do a custom action.

Gestures

The display-related features are Peek Display and Attentive Display. The former works as a second-best alternative to the Always-on display feature, which is actually missing, but with some added functionality to make up for it.

The screen lights up when it detects motion that’s close to the phone or when you pick it up. Once you’ve received some kind of notification, you can tap on it, see the message, and even interact with it from the lock screen.

Attentive Display disables the screen timeout as long as there’s a face looking at the screen.

Display

Then there’s the Play section. Here, you’ll find the Gametime utility, which offers the usual functionality of tools like call and notification blocking and screen recording. Additionally, there are optional shortcuts for media playback when the screen is locked using the volume keys and a Dolby Atmos sound enhancement utility.

Play

With recent versions, Google has been investing heavily in the privacy and security aspects of Android. This includes things like the Privacy dashboard, which offers a unified view of what permission is being used by what app and when.

There are also the camera and microphone indicators in the top right corner of the screen for an immediate clue that you’re being watched/listened to, but also the quick toggles to limit access to those altogether. There is also the option to determine whether an app gets your precise coordinates or an approximate location.

Security and privacy

Secure folder is pretty self-explanatory. It is a vault to keep your sensitive apps and files. There are a few interesting network protection options on board, like the ability to block certain apps from accessing the network while you are connected to an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot.

Other interesting security features include the ability to lock your network and security settings for as long as your screen is locked. Also, the ability to scramble your pin input interface for higher security. You can access all of these security and privacy settings through a separate Moto Secure app shortcut as well.

A relatively new feature is the Overcharge protection toggle in the Battery menu. It will cut off charging once it detects that the phone hasn’t been unplugged for three days straight and keep the battery charged at a much healthier 80%.

Battery features

Predictably, the Moto G53 is missing the “Ready For” feature Motorola is offering on some of its higher-end models.

Performance and benchmarks

The Moto G53 5G runs on the Snapdragon 480+ chipset. The 480+ is an upgraded variant of the Snapdragon 480 that came out in 2021 as the first chip in the Snapdragon 4xx series to support 5G connectivity. The Snapdragon 480+ is made on an 8nm LPP process and has two Kryo 460 Gold (Cortex-A76) CPU cores clocked at up to 2.2 GHz, plus another six Kryo 460 Silver (Cortex-A55) ones working at up to 1.8 GHz. There is also an Adreno 619 GPU on board and an X51 internal 5G/LTE modem. The Snapdragon 480+ is paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. Our review unit has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

In a sense, the Snapdragon 480+ is a bit of a downgrade compared to the Snapdragon 680 inside the Moto G52. Presumably, Motorola had to make that sacrifice in order to deliver 5G connectivity at this price point.

Let’s start with some CPU testing and GeekBench. The Snapdragon 480+ has pretty lackluster multi-core CPU performance. Inside the Moto G53, in particular, it seems to even be underperforming a bit compared to similarly-equipped devices like the Moto G51 5G and Moto G62. Not by a lot, mind you.

The Moto G53 fairs a lot better in single-core tests, which is arguably the more important bit when it comes to day-to-day average use.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  2936
• Realme 10 Pro+
  2371
• Poco X5
  2088
• Realme 10 Pro
  2021
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  1964
• Galaxy A23 5G
  1940
• Galaxy A33 5G
  1900
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  1896
• Motorola Edge
  1862
• Motorola Moto G72
  1842
• Poco M4 Pro
  1836
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  1797
• Realme 10
  1762
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1729
• Galaxy A14 5G
  1727
• Moto G62
  1697
• Moto G51 5G
  1696
• Redmi Note 11
  1662
• Galaxy A23
  1632
• Motorola Moto G53
  1594
• Galaxy A13
  588

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme 10 Pro+
  842
• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  795
• Galaxy A33 5G
  742
• Realme 10 Pro
  698
• Poco X5
  693
• Galaxy A23 5G
  676
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  670
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  597
• Motorola Edge
  586
• Realme 10
  567
• Motorola Moto G53
  557
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  550
• Motorola Moto G72
  546
• Moto G62
  543
• Moto G51 5G
  543
• Galaxy A14 5G
  530
• Poco M4 Pro
  523
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  511
• Galaxy A23
  380
• Redmi Note 11
  376
• Galaxy A13
  153

AnTuTu is a much more compound benchmark that incorporates CPU, GPU and memory tests, among other things. It is actually pretty favorable towards the Moto G53 5G.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  534143
• Realme 10 Pro+
  522376
• Realme 10 Pro
  401860
• Poco X5
  400895
• Galaxy A33 5G
  394918
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  386311
• Realme 10
  385829
• Motorola Moto G72
  383317
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  380818
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  353663
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  319093
• Galaxy A23 5G
  318821
• Poco M4 Pro
  318444
• Motorola Moto G53
  314195
• Galaxy A14 5G
  307886
• Moto G62
  303072
• Moto G51 5G
  302859
• Galaxy A23
  273554
• Redmi Note 11
  244526
• Galaxy A13
  136286

The Adreno 619 GPU inside the Moto G53 is pretty weak as well. However, there is one saving grace, of sorts, in the HD+ native resolution of the phone’s display. This allows for relatively higher on-screen test results. Still, nothing amazing, though. We can at least see that the Moto G53 performs on par with the Moto G51 5G and G62 in off-screen tests, which means that Motorola is making the most out of the Snapdragon 480+ chipset.

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  23
• Motorola Moto G53
  20
• Realme 10 Pro+
  16
• Galaxy A33 5G
  15
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  12
• Motorola Edge
  12
• Galaxy A23 5G
  12
• Realme 10 Pro
  11
• Realme 10
  10
• Moto G62
  9.7
• Moto G51 5G
  9.7
• Motorola Moto G72
  9.3
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  8.9
• Galaxy A14 5G
  8.3
• Poco M4 Pro
  8.3
• Galaxy A23
  4.7
• Redmi Note 11
  4.6
• Galaxy A13
  3.3

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  15
• Realme 10 Pro+
  11
• Galaxy A33 5G
  10
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  7.8
• Realme 10 Pro
  7.8
• Galaxy A23 5G
  7.6
• Moto G62
  6.5
• Realme 10
  6.5
• Motorola Moto G53
  6.4
• Moto G51 5G
  6.4
• Motorola Moto G72
  6
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  5.9
• Galaxy A14 5G
  5.5
• Poco M4 Pro
  5.5
• Galaxy A23
  3.2
• Redmi Note 11
  3.1
• Galaxy A13
  2.2

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  23
• Motorola Moto G53
  20
• Galaxy A33 5G
  15
• Realme 10 Pro+
  15
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  12
• Motorola Edge
  12
• Galaxy A23 5G
  12
• Realme 10 Pro
  12
• Moto G62
  10
• Moto G51 5G
  10
• Realme 10
  9.3
• Motorola Moto G72
  8.7
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  8.2
• Galaxy A14 5G
  7.9
• Poco M4 Pro
  7.7
• Redmi Note 11
  4.8
• Galaxy A23
  4.6
• Galaxy A13
  3.4

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  17
• Galaxy A33 5G
  10
• Realme 10 Pro+
  10
• Realme 10 Pro
  8.3
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  8.2
• Galaxy A23 5G
  8
• Motorola Moto G53
  6.7
• Moto G62
  6.7
• Moto G51 5G
  6.7
• Realme 10
  6.1
• Motorola Moto G72
  5.5
• Galaxy A14 5G
  5.3
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  5.3
• Poco M4 Pro
  5.1
• Galaxy A23
  3.2
• Redmi Note 11
  3.1
• Galaxy A13
  2.3

As we go lower in GPU testing intensity, the Adreno 619 finally starts posting some more reasonable benchmark scores. At least on-screen, that is, in 720p resolution.

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  33
• Motorola Moto G53
  29
• Realme 10 Pro+
  21
• Galaxy A33 5G
  20
• Motorola Edge
  18
• Realme 10
  17
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  16
• Galaxy A23 5G
  16
• Realme 10 Pro
  16
• Moto G51 5G
  15
• Moto G62
  14
• Motorola Moto G72
  13
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  13
• Galaxy A14 5G
  12
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  12
• Poco M4 Pro
  12
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  12
• Redmi Note 11
  6.8
• Galaxy A23
  6.7
• Galaxy A13
  5.2

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  39
• Realme 10 Pro+
  27
• Galaxy A33 5G
  23
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  20
• Motorola Edge
  19
• Galaxy A23 5G
  19
• Realme 10 Pro
  19
• Motorola Moto G53
  16
• Moto G62
  16
• Moto G51 5G
  16
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  16
• Motorola Moto G72
  15
• Galaxy A14 5G
  15
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  15
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  14
• Realme 10
  14
• Poco M4 Pro
  14
• Galaxy A23
  8.3
• Redmi Note 11
  8
• Galaxy A13
  6.2

The Moto G53 even manages to break through the 60fps barrier in the lower-intensity Manhattan OpenGL ES 3.0 tests.

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  59
• Motorola Moto G53
  55
• Realme 10 Pro+
  38
• Galaxy A33 5G
  35
• Motorola Edge
  32
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  29
• Galaxy A23 5G
  29
• Realme 10 Pro
  29
• Realme 10
  28
• Moto G62
  26
• Moto G51 5G
  26
• Motorola Moto G72
  24
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  23
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  22
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  22
• Galaxy A14 5G
  21
• Poco M4 Pro
  21
• Redmi Note 11
  12
• Galaxy A23
  12
• Galaxy A13
  8.3

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  64
• Realme 10 Pro+
  45
• Galaxy A33 5G
  38
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  35
• Realme 10 Pro
  35
• Motorola Edge
  34
• Galaxy A23 5G
  33
• Motorola Moto G53
  29
• Moto G51 5G
  29
• Moto G62
  28
• Motorola Moto G72
  26
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  26
• Galaxy A14 5G
  25
• Realme 10
  25
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  25
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  24
• Poco M4 Pro
  24
• Redmi Note 11
  15
• Galaxy A23
  15
• Galaxy A13
  9.4

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  80
• Motorola Moto G53
  67
• Galaxy A33 5G
  56
• Realme 10 Pro+
  56
• Motorola Edge
  48
• Realme 10
  44
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  43
• Realme 10 Pro
  41
• Galaxy A23 5G
  39
• Motorola Moto G72
  37
• Moto G62
  37
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  37
• Moto G51 5G
  36
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  35
• Galaxy A14 5G
  34
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  34
• Poco M4 Pro
  33
• Redmi Note 11
  18
• Galaxy A23
  18
• Galaxy A13
  14

GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  90
• Realme 10 Pro+
  68
• Galaxy A33 5G
  60
• Motorola Edge
  50
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  47
• Realme 10 Pro
  47
• Galaxy A23 5G
  44
• Motorola Moto G53
  41
• Motorola Moto G72
  41
• Moto G62
  41
• Moto G51 5G
  41
• Galaxy A14 5G
  40
• Realme 10
  40
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  40
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  40
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  37
• Poco M4 Pro
  37
• Redmi Note 11
  21
• Galaxy A23
  20
• Galaxy A13
  16

In practice, the G53 does fair reasonably well with gaming. Casual titles run just fine, but more intensive ones do experience stutters and slowdowns. As long as you have your expectations set accordingly, you can definitely have some quality gaming time on the G53, especially with all of the extra gaming features Motorola has put in place.

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  2969
• Galaxy A33 5G
  2260
• Realme 10 Pro+
  2252
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  1321
• Realme 10
  1320
• Motorola Moto G72
  1255
• Poco M4 Pro 5G
  1232
• Realme 10 Pro
  1218
• Motorola Edge 30 Neo
  1201
• Galaxy A23 5G
  1200
• Galaxy A14 5G
  1197
• Redmi Note 11 Pro
  1101
• Poco M4 Pro
  1099
• Motorola Moto G53
  981
• Moto G62
  971
• Moto G51 5G
  970
• Galaxy A13
  510
• Redmi Note 11
  439
• Galaxy A23
  429

3DMark Wild Life Extreme (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 13 Lite
  828
• Realme 10 Pro+
  622
• Xiaomi Poco M5
  369
• Realme 10
  366
• Motorola Moto G72
  347
• Galaxy A14 5G
  331
• Motorola Moto G53
  291

The Snapdragon 480+ might not be a chart-topper, but it is a pretty efficient chip. It doesn’t run particularly hot, either. The Moto G53 never got above lukewarm under prolonged loads, and the chipset faired excellently with thermal throttling. It is done in a very controlled and gradual, not to mention minimal manner.

Thermal-throttling

All things considered, the Moto G53 offers decent performance for day-to-day use but is largely unimpressive in this regard. We feel like Motorola sacrificed too much in the way of performance just to fit 5G into a budget price category. Some competitors from Xiaomi, POCO, Realme and Samsung manage to offer more raw power and 5G connectivity for a similar price, challenging the G53 in terms of value.

Simple dual camera setup

The camera setup is another area in which Motorola did a downgrade of such coming from the Moto G52. Gone is the ultrawide cam from that phone. Instead, the Moto G53 just has a 50MP main snapper and a 2MP macro cam on the back.

The main camera utilizes a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN1 1/2.76″ sensor with a Tetracell filter and 0.64µm pixels. It sits behind an f/1.8 lens and has PDAF, but nothing too fancy beyond that, like OIS. The other camera on the back is a 2MP OmniVision OV02B10. It is a 1/5″ sensor with 1.75µm individual pixels. This camera is fixed-focus only and has an aperture of f/2.4.

Last but not least, the Moto G53 comes with either an 8MP, f/2.0 or 16MP, f/2.2 selfie camera. Our unit has the former with an 8MP Samsung ISOCELL 4H7 sensor (S5K4H7). It has a 1/4″ optical format and 1.12µm individual pixels. There is no autofocus on the selfie.

The camera app is your typical Motorola affair. The camera modes are arranged in a customizable carousel formation, with the hamburger menu at the rightmost end of the carousel holding the more seldom-used shooting modes.

Pro mode gives you full control over the camera’s settings like white balance, ISO, autofocus, shutter speed, and exposure compensation, and Pro mode works on both rear cameras. It even has a histogram.

Camera UI

Additional settings for each camera mode can be found by swiping up in the viewfinder – there’s a tiny arrow hint to indicate that. Here, you’ll find flash and self-timer settings in Photo mode. Interestingly enough, there is no resolution selector for video capture. 1080p is just the cap and the default. The gear icon for the general settings menu houses even more settings, including photo resolutions.

Daylight photo quality

The 50MP main camera captures 12.5MP stills by default due to its Quad-Bayer nature. These shots look very nice, with plenty of detail, good contrast and dynamic range and nice, true-to-life colors.

Motorola Moto G53: 12.5MP main camera samples

There are still some notable shortcomings when pixel-peeping, though, like softness and graininess on most uniform surfaces. Hardly a major dealbreaker, though, especially on a budget device.

The G53 can capture in full-res 50MP mode. These shots have noticeably more detail than the regular ones and otherwise share their other quality attributes. The G53 doesn’t take too long to capture 50MP stills, either. If you can deal with the bigger file sizes, then we definitely recommend 50MP mode.

Motorola Moto G53: 50MP main camera samples

The main camera captures decent portraits, but nothing to phone home about. Subject detection and separation are good, and the quality of the background blur is excellent.

Motorola Moto G53: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Non-human subjects can be a bit more finicky to focus on properly, but you can get very good results with enough patience.

Motorola Moto G53: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

While there is no dedicated zoom camera on the G53 and not even a quick toggle for zooming on the camera UI, there is nothing preventing you from doing a digital zoom. The 50MP main camera definitely has enough resolution to handle a 2x zoom with relative grace. The quality of these shots is not too far off from regular ones, and they are perfectly usable.

Motorola Moto G53: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom samples

Here’s how the main camera stacks up against competitors in our vast photo compare database. Pixel-peep away.

Motorola Moto G53 against the Motorola Moto G82 and the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G in our Photo compare tool

50MP: Motorola Moto G53 against the Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 and the Samsung Galaxy A23 5G in our Photo compare tool

The 2MP macro camera produces pretty nice results, given its small size and lack of autofocus. The focal plane is fairly wide, but you still have to be careful to get the subject in focus. Once that’s done, however, photos have a surprising amount of detail and nice colors.

Motorola Moto G53: 2MP macro camera samples

Selfies

The 8MP selfie camera does a decent job. Detail is plenty, though finer skin texture does not come through and gets destroyed instead. Colors look nice, though again, skin tones aren’t exactly natural. The focal plane is, once again, pretty wide and forgiving.

Motorola Moto G53: 8MP selfie camera samples

Selfie portraits look very good as well. While not perfect, subject detection and separation are almost always spot on, and the quality of the background blur is excellent.

Motorola Moto G53: 8MP selfie camera portrait samples

Video quality

The Moto G53 is limited to 1080p@30fps video capture on both its main and selfie cameras. You don’t get to choose a lower resolution either unless you install third-party software like Open Camera. Videos get saved in a standard h.264 AVC video stream at around 20Mbps with a 48 kHz stereo AAC audio track inside an MP4 container. H.265 HEVC video is an option in the camera app setting, though.

The main cam captures decent but mostly unimpressive 1080p videos. Detail is generally good for this sort of resolution. Colors aren’t too bad, either. Contrast, however, is cranked way up, which makes for a very artificial and over-processed look. Dynamic range is pretty limited too.

Here’s how the main camera on the Moto G53 stacks up against the competition in our extensive video compare database.

Motorola Moto G53 against the Motorola Moto G82 and the Samsung Galaxy A23 in our Video compare tool

The main cam offers electronic video stabilization (EIS), which works pretty well. It definitely smooths out shakes and bumps but does introduce a bit of unfortunate focus hunting.

Footage from the selfie cam is capped at 1080p@30fps as well. It also looks very over-processed, with way too much contrast. It is still usable, though.

Stabilization works surprisingly well on the selfie cam, but it does chop away a fairly big portion of the frame.

Low-light camera quality

The Moto G53 struggles a bit in low-light conditions. The shots are a bit soft and grainy and also quite dark. On the plus side, there is a very reasonable amount of detail in the frame, and light sources are handled well.

Motorola Moto G53: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples

The Moto G53 has an automatic night mode that triggers consistently and does its thing. There is a manual night mode beyond that. It produces very similar results. Occasionally, its shots are softer than the regular ones, which is odd.

Motorola Moto G53: 12.5MP main camera night mode samples

On the plus side, capturing night mode shots does not take very long, even with the relatively weak chipset inside the G53.

Low-light selfies are decent but not amazing. Detail is good, and both shadows and light sources are handled competently. Skin texture is almost entirely destroyed, and skin tones are pretty off. There is also a noticeable about of noise in the frame. Still, nothing unexpected for this class of device.

Motorola Moto G53: 8MP selfie camera low-light samples

Low light video is decent, but nothing to phone home about. Detail is alright for a 1080p clip. Light sources are handled decently well. Noise is handled well, too and is almost absent.

Shadows are a bit too dark for our taste, but not dramatically so. Overall, the video is usable.

Alternatives

The Moto G53 is a pretty affordable device, with a starting MSRP of around EUR 250. In the modern, highly-competitive smartphone space, that’s still enough money for a number of other interesting devices.

As we already mentioned, Motorola sacrificed quite a bit in the way of specs on the G53 to fit 5G connectivity into its price tag. One alternative to get a very similar experience without many of the specs compromises is to shop for a generation older Moto device that has now come down in price nicely. A device like the Moto G82. It comes with a 6.6-inch, FullHD+, 120Hz AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 695 5G chipset with 6GB or 8GB of RAM, stereo speakers, a large 5,000 mAh battery with 30W fast charging and a potent camera setup which includes a 50MP main snapper, an 8MP ultrawide and a 2MP macro cam. It addresses pretty much all of the omissions on the G53, and you just have to live with a slightly older device.

Motorola Moto G82 • Motorola Moto G72

And if 5G isn’t your major priority, you can just as easily consider the Moto G72. It also has a 6.6-inch, FullHD+, 120Hz AMOLED display, but this one is even 10-bit. The stereo speakers and the water-repellent design, and the large 5,000 mAh battery are still intact, this time with 33W wired charging. The chipset is a slightly weaker MediaTek G99, but making up for that in a way, we have a 108MP main camera, accompanied by an 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro cam.

Samsung has a number of interesting devices that can stack up against the Moto G53, like the Galaxy A14 5G, but if you stretch your budget just a tiny bit, you can maybe even afford the Galaxy A33 5G. Like the Motos above, it is a bit older and now due for a replacement, but on the plus side, it has come down in price. It delivers an excellent 6.4-inch, 90Hz Super AMOLED display, IP67 ingress protection, stereo speakers and a large 5,000 mAh battery with 25W charging. There is also a fully-featured camera setup with a 48MP main cam, 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro and a depth sensor, and the main cam is capable of capturing video at 4K.

Samsung Galaxy A33 5G • Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 • Xiaomi Poco X5 • OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 is another excellent choice. It also comes with some ingress protection in the shape of IP53 certification and a large 5,000 mAh battery with 33W charging. The display is a 6.67-inch, 120Hz AMOLED unit with 1200 nits of peak brightness. The camera setup includes an 8MP ultrawide here, a 48MP main cam, and a 2MP macro.

You could just as easily consider the Xiaomi Poco X5, which is very similar to the Redmi Note 12 in specs and design. However, it is a slightly newer model and swaps the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 chipset for a Snapdragon 695 5G.

You can also consider the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G, especially in certain markets. It comes with a 6.43-inch, 90Hz, HDR10+ AMOLED display, MediaTek Dimensity 900 chipset with 6GB of 8GB of RAM, and a 4,500 mAh battery with very fast 65W charging. Also on the list is a 64MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro cam.

Our verdict

The Moto G53 5G is not a particularly exciting device. It offers a decent overall package with things like stereo speakers, solid build quality, a 120Hz refresh rate with great management and a big battery with excellent battery life. Its clean Android 13 OS is also snappy and imbued with a whole bunch of useful yet non-intrusive Moto extras to enjoy. We do not doubt that the phone will serve less-demanding users well.

However, there is no point beating about the bush – the Moto G53 5G is not a great deal on the current market. For whatever reason, Motorola simply decided to downgrade too much about the G5X line in order to accommodate 5G connectivity. We just need to pit the G53 to its G52 predecessor to quickly see some of these major downgrades, like the inclusion of a rather unimpressive 720p LCD instead of a 1080p OLED panel, the lack of an ultrawide camera and the relatively low performance of the Snapdragon 480+ chipset. Some downgrades are downright perplexing, like the decision to drop the 30W fast charging and replace it with basic 10W charging, which is almost extinct even at this price point in 2023.

As we already mentioned, for a less demanding user, perhaps with a nice contract deal from your carrier, the Moto G53 can be perfectly satisfactory. However, if are considering the retail price sticker, we would probably keep looking since better phones are easy to come by.

Pros

• Solid build quality.
• Straightforward and dynamic HRR handling.
• Excellent battery life.
• Stereo speaker setup with decent quality.
• Clean Android 13 interface, additional Moto custom bits.

Cons

• Not particularly bright, 720p IPS display, instead of an OLED like its predecessor.
• Basic 10W charging, instead of the 30W one from its predecessor.
• The Snapdragon 480+ chipset offers unimpressive performance.
• No ultrawide camera and barely decent overall camera performance.