- Motorola has announced the flagship Signature 27
- It features a 12,000-nit screen, a 7,000mAh battery, a top-end chipset, and other impressive specs
- However, it also has an iPhone 18 Pro-rivaling price
The original Motorola Signature only launched back in January, but a successor has already been announced in the form of the Signature 27 — and while it fixes its predecessor’s main weakness, it also comes in at a far higher price.
This is a top-end phone with a 7,000mAh battery (complete with 90W wired and 50W wireless charging), and what Motorola claims is “the brightest display available in a smartphone” — one that tops out at 12,000 nits of brightness.
For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery and a display with a 2,600-nit peak brightness, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max has a 5,567mAh battery (or a 5,391mAh one in models with a removable SIM card) and a display with a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.
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So the Motorola Signature 27 dwarfs both of those top phones in these areas, and as far as addressing its predecessor’s main weakness, it’s one of the first phones to feature the exceptionally powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset.
This chipset was only announced in September and is a generation ahead of the chipset found in the Galaxy S26 series. It’s also far more capable than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset found in the original Motorola Signature.
Other highlights of the Motorola Signature 27 include a triple-lens camera, with a 50MP wide snapper, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 200MP 3x zoom periscope that’s also capable of 100x AI-powered zoom. This camera setup also includes the first-ever dedicated EVS action sensor on a smartphone, to help capture fast-moving subjects. And there’s a 50MP camera on the front, too.
So its photography features sound promising; on top of that, the Motorola Signature 27 also has Audio by Bang & Olufsen, which the company claims can deliver “richer, more immersive sound.”
Durable but expensive
The Signature 27 has a premium yet durable build — its chassis is a mix of ceramic, glass, and aluminum, and the phone boasts both IP68 and IP69 ratings for dust and water resistance. And while it runs Android out of the box (complete with support for Gemini Intelligence and the promise of seven years of software updates), it also supports the privacy-focused GrapheneOS, which has hitherto been limited to Google Pixel devices.
So, on paper, this phone sounds extremely promising, but it might be held back by its price, as it’s set to retail for £1,299.99 (roughly $1,750 / AU$2,495 — US and Australian pricing and availability are yet to be confirmed). That makes it even more expensive than the iPhone 18 Pro and roughly the same price as the iPhone 18 Pro Max or the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
So Motorola is definitely positioning the Signature 27 as a truly top-end handset, and while it has the specs to support that ambition, the brand might not be enough of a household name in 2026 to pull off that price.
Still, if you do want the Motorola Signature 27, it’s shipping in Europe on November 16, in a choice of Pantone Coal Smoke and Pantone Capulet Olive shades. Stay tuned for our full review of the phone in the coming weeks.
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James Rogerson
