I’ve been testing smartphones for more than six years. Almost always, the new phone runs a bit better than the old one. Battery life can vary—last year’s phone might last a smidge longer than the new model. But performance? Clash Royale and Instagram are almost guaranteed to run a little smoother.
That’s why I’ve been scratching my head while using the Moto G Stylus 2022 this past week. I could’ve sworn I recall its predecessor running better than this. I was right. Benchmark tests show that Motorola’s latest budget Android phone scores lower than the Moto G Stylus 2021. Heck, even the Moto G Stylus from 2020 scored slightly higher in one of the tests. What’s going on?
Chip Talk
Motorola’s new $300 phone uses a MediaTek Helio G88 processor with 6 gigabytes of RAM instead of the usual Qualcomm Snapdragon. That’s fine—phones like the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G use a MediaTek chip with…
