If you thought I got a bit too over-excited about a grey phone recently, then get ready, because I’m now going to be the same way about a brown phone too. The phone in question is the Motorola Edge 50 Neo, and I’ve been sent the Mocha Mousse version to take a closer look at, and without any doubt, it’s the best looking brown phone I’ve ever seen.
A brown phone?
Grey is just about as middle-of-the-road as you can get when it comes to colors. It goes perfectly with a black or a white phone, in that it’s never going to offend anyone’s eyes or turn anyone off. Brown is not that color. It’s the color of bears, tree trunks, and, well, you know, that. We smile and laugh at kitsch brown car interiors from the 70s, and consider a brown interior today a brave specification choice, even on a Ferrari where it’s called things like “tan” to disguise the fact it’s brown. Until I set eyes on the Edge 50 Neo, I probably wouldn’t have gone for brown anything.
But Mocha Mousse isn’t brown. Well, not completely brown anyway. It’s brown like chocolate and perfectly complements the old wooden table top at my local cafe, plus it contrasts beautifully when placed next to an actual mocha coffee too. It doesn’t blend in with either, like a bear hiding in the forest, and even goes rather well with my cream hoodie, white Swatch Moonswatch watch, and gold Apple MacBook Air. It turns out a brown phone is way more versatile than I expected.
Mocha Mousse is not a flat brown either. Get the phone in your hand and you’ll immediately spot all the black flecks in the finish, which give it a surprisingly earthy look. But again, not in an unpleasant way. It’s a carefully considered brown color that I think also only works when it’s applied to Motorola’s vegan leather material. If the Edge 50 Neo was glossy glass, I don’t think it would work in the same way at all. It turns out the Mocha Mousse Motorola Edge 50 Neo is the brown leather jacket of the smartphone world: a fashion staple that goes with most things.
Matching wallpaper
The comparison to leather isn’t lost on Motorola, and there’s a lovely matching, leather-like wallpaper to go with your Mocha Mousse phone. All phones have a selection of wallpapers included, but the majority are too bland or too garish, and choosing one when taking photos for a review is often a challenge. Motorola’s matching wallpaper emphasizes texture, and it looks great. It’s an easy choice to show off the phone’s flat screen.
Motorola isn’t solely responsible for the color scheme. It’s the result of its ongoing partnership with color experts Pantone, and the iconic color swatch panel on the back of the Edge 50 Neo proudly shows off the name of the color, just in case you weren’t aware it even had a name. In the same way the Grisaille shade on the other Motorola Edge 50 Neo I tried elevated it beyond being just another phone, Mocha Mousse does the same.
It’s the choice to make if you’re considering buying the Motorola Edge 50 Neo. As much as I like the Grisaille, it’s nowhere near as eye-catching and unusual as Mocha Mousse. What’s more, Motorola has also released a Mocha Mousse version of the Razr Plus 2024, or the Razr 50 Ultra if you aren’t in the U.S..
We took a look at the compact folding phone in Mocha Mousse at the end of last year. There are a few notable differences between the two phones. The Razr doesn’t have the Pantone swatch on the back, and the frame is gold rather than a gunmetal grey on the Edge 50 Neo. Here’s a controversial statement: I think the Mocha Mousse Edge 50 Neo looks better than the Mocha Mousse Razr Plus. It’s just a bit less gaudy, which is a consequence of the gold metal.
How about the phone?
Handling the Edge 50 Neo again reminds me just how slim and light it is — just 8.1mm and 171 grams — and how the sensible 71mm width of the phone makes it easy to hold and use with one hand. I’ve been using the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra a lot recently, and the Motorola Edge 50 Neo feels very compact in comparison. It reminds me of the old Asus Zenfone 9’s wonderful proportions.
The phone has been around since August 2024, so while it’s still a current model, we may see an updated version in a few months time. It’s also not a phone available to buy in the U.S., due to Motorola still releasing different phones in different regions, and with different names, rather than making things simple for everyone. The Razr Plus 2024 is available in the U.S. though, but it is the only model available in Mocha Mousse, so if you want the color and not a foldable, sadly you’re out of luck.
Like the Edge 50 Neo, the Razr Plus is also likely to be replaced in the range soon, as it came out in June 2024. We’re excited to see what’s next, but perhaps even more excited to see what the big “chase” color Motorola and Pantone have planned for 2025, based on the success of Mocha Mousse.