Moto G Stylus (2026) review

Cameras - same as last year, better than on the other Moto G (2026)s

The Moto G Stylus (2026) straight up reuses the camera setup of its predecessor, itself being the same in principle as the 2024 model. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and the 2026 Stylus has a well-specced dual rear camera and a decent camera on the front for selfies too - nothing too fancy, but a well-balanced configuration for the class.

The main camera uses a Sony Lytia 700C, reported here as IMX 896 - a fairly run-of-the-mill 1/1.56" imager. It's paired with a stabilized 24mm equivalent lens with an f/1.8 aperture. A 13MP conventional RGB sensor is used on the ultrawide camera, which doubles as a macro camera - it has autofocus and can focus very close.

There's no third camera on the back - the lens-looking thing below the flash is just for appearances. Even so, however, the Stylus is the best-equipped model in the Moto G (2026) lineup.

Over on the front, there's a 32MP camera with a wide 22mm lens. There's no autofocus on this one, but we do appreciate the relatively wide lens.

• Wide (main): 50MP Sony IMX 896 (Lytia 700C, 1/1.56", 1.0µm-2.0µm); 24mm, f/1.8, OIS, PDAF; 4K30/1080p60 video recording.
• Ultrawide: 13MP GalaxyCore GC13A2 (1/3.1", 1.12µm); 16mm, f/2.2, PDAF; 4K30.
• Front camera: 32MP GalaxyCore GC32E1 (1/3.1", 0.7µm-1.4µm); 22mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 4K30.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

You'll get quite expressive results from the main camera of the Moto G Stylus (2016) - saturation is dialed up pretty high as is contrast - but it's a slightly toned down look compared to last year's model and we think it's for the better.

Dynamic range is wide, which was much appreciated in these slightly overcast days we've been having, though there can be occasions where the HDR processing is a bit much.

The level of detail is generally very good, though it does have a fairly digital pixelated rendition of random textures.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Human subjects are rendered with pleasing, lifelike skin tones. Portrait mode does alright with subject detection - there are minor flaws if you look closely, but nothing too dramatic.

Human subjects, main camera (1x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

The full-res photos might be able to give a bit of extra detail in brightly-lit outdoor situations, with more conservative contrast and color rendition - it could be worth exploring. Indoor scenes with less light aren't looking good, that's for sure.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

The Stylus, unlike the Power, does have a 2x shortcut in the viewfinder, so Motorola is a bit more confident in its zooming in capabilities. In fact, the results are pretty unremarkable, with heaps of sharpening trying to mask what are ultimately not very detailed images. If you stick to fit-to-screen viewing and only share downscaled photos anyway, these will do, but they're not too likeable.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

Here's a handful of portraits too - hardly great, but usable under the above conditions.

Human subjects, main camera (2x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera's photos aren't particularly good at 1:1. Sharpening is quite excessive and detail looks coarse in some areas, while the darker areas' textures can be entirely smoothened out. If you take a step back, however, you'll probably enjoy the pop these shots have on a global level - vibrant colors, high contrast, what's not to like?

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)

The macro button in the viewfinder is just another way to access the ultrawide camera - other implementations give you a magnified view from that camera to match the main camera, for example, but here it's the same ultrawide field of view. Shooting from just a few centimeters away with an ultrawide lens means all sorts of issues - you'll likely throw a shadow on your subject with the phone, if you can at all get the phone that close.

The end results are competitive for the class though - we don't think a 2MP/5MP dedicated macro camera can rival them for detail, and there's not a whole lot of AF-capable ultrawides on low-mid-tier phones.

Close-up samples, ultrawide camera

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

Low-light results from the main camera are okayish. They have, once again, pretty high sharpening, with strong halos around contrasting detail, and not a whole lot of actual detail, even in relatively well-lit scenes.

Exposures are typically good though, and dynamic range is wide, in a way - with the caveat that the seemingly well-developed shadows and well-contained highlights don't really have much detail in them. White balance and saturation are pretty great, for what it's worth.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

The dedicated Night mode doesn't change much (or at all) - apparently, what the phone is capable of, it will deliver in full auto.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night mode

The 2x shots are pretty bad, though.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide's low-light photos are soft and gritty, but they do have good dynamic range and colors, and if you don't do much pixel-peeping, you should be fine.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)

Not much use in shooting in Night mode again.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x), Night mode

Selfies

A breath of fresh air among a sea of 32MP selfie cameras that shoot in native resolution only, the Moto G Stylus lets you take 8MP selfies (that's the default state, actually). That way, you get nicely sharp shots without needlessly wasting storage. Sure, detail may be a bit pixelated, but it's pixelated in a sort of good, sharp way. Pretty nice selfies, is what we're trying to say, even in dark conditions.

Selfie samples

Video quality

The Moto G Stylus (2026) can record video at up 4K30 with all of its cameras - the ultrawide and the front-facing one too. The main rear camera also supports 60fps recording, albeit in 1080p resolution, but the other two cameras can't go above 30fps.

You can choose between h.264 and h.265 codecs, but that's all the video options you get - there's no HDR recording, and no Pro video mode. As we've seen on other recent Motos, stabilization is always on, without any explicit indication or the ability to switch it off, if you'd like to.

You can hit '> play' below and use the '>| next' button to advance through the playlist of all video samples, or you can watch the full playlist on YouTube.

Video quality is an interesting topic with the Stylus, its results being all over the place, but with flashes of surprising goodness. The ultrawide camera's footage, for example, strikes an unusual balance between sharpness and grain that makes for nicely detailed daytime clips. That camera is also prone to focus hunting (a downside of the otherwise welcome AF capability) and it tends to expose a touch too bright.

The main camera's footage is correctly exposed, but, much like in stills, it's a bit needlessly contrasty. Colors are vibrant and likable overall, and detail is very good. 2x zoom clips are softish, but probably usable.

Video screengrabs, daylight: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

In the dark, the ultrawide loses its wow factor and replaces its daytime overexposure with underexposure, limited dynamic range and softness throughout, plus the focus hunting gets worse.

The main camera tends to expose brightly at night, which results in blown highlights and noisy shadows, but things remain unusually detailed, and we're definitely not hating the outcome. 2x is unusable, though.

Video screengrabs, low light: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

Stabilization is very good on the main camera when shooting from a stationary position, the videos being almost tripod-like when you're just pointing in one direction, and pans are only slightly iffy. That was also our experience with the ultrawide, but the occasional focus hunt can be annoying. Walking shake on the main camera does cause a bit more of a disruption and in those cases, we saw some hunting on it too.