Moto G9 Plus is the cheap phone answer to the Samsung Galaxy Note 20

Samsung Galaxy Note 20
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 (Image credit: TechRadar)

Look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 picture at the top of this article - whether you like or loathe the design you've got to admit its Mystic Gold color, angular camera block, and big build make it pretty distinctive. It certainly seems Motorola is a fan, because the newly-unveiled Moto G9 Plus looks quite similar.

The Moto G9 Plus is the latest in the Moto G9 series of cheap phones to be unveiled, following on from the Moto G9 Play (just known as the Moto G9 in India). The new phone has only been announced for Brazil so far, but it could come to other regions too - maybe under a different name though.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about the Moto G9 Plus is its similarity to Samsung's recently-launched Note 20 phone - it has a similar gold hue, a rectangular camera bump that looks pretty comparable to the Note's aside from the smaller lenses, and unlike nearly all previous Moto G phones there's no rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, as it has been relegated to the side (the Note 20 phones have in-screen scanners).

While the Moto G9 Plus is definitely a distinct phone to the Galaxy Note 20, if you took away the massive Motorola logo on the former phone, from a distance the phones could be confused for one another.

Moto G9 Plus specs

The Moto G9 Plus

The Moto G9 Plus (Image credit: Motorola)

The Moto G9 Plus specs list will be familiar to people who followed pre-release rumors, as a recent leak was right on the money.

The Moto G9 Plus has a huge 6.8-inch FHD+ screen, broken up by a punch-hole cut-out for the camera in the top left.

The phone has a Snapdragon 730G chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage - that should make it fairly snappy to run but its processing speeds won't match top-end phones. There's also a 5,000mAh battery that supports 30W fast charging.

The cameras consist of a 64MP main, 8MP ultra-wide, 2MP macro and 2MP depth-sensing snapper, and there's a 16MP selfie camera on the front.

On the edge of the phone there's a fingerprint scanner, as previously mentioned, and the device also has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Lastly, the handset runs Android 10, not the newly-launched Android 11, though it's probably too soon to see that recent operating system land on any new smartphones.

We've only got the price of the phone in Brazil, where it costs R$2,499, which converts roughly to $470, £365, AU$645. Those converted prices are pretty high for a Moto G phone, so we'd expect the handset will cost less when it launches in other regions - maybe even half that figure. It's also worth pointing out that the phone comes in a blue color as well, if you don't fancy the gold one above.

When the Moto G9 Plus launches in other regions beyond Brazil (or if it launches elsewhere under a different name, or a different phone with the same name launches in other regions - both possibilities given Motorola's confusing naming trends) we'll let you know, so stay tuned to TechRadar for all the latest tech and gadget news.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.


He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist. He also currently works in film as a screenwriter, director and producer.