[Updated] Motorola says it has no plans to bring Hello UI & Edge 50 Pro AI camera features to older phones

Update 28/05/24 04:10 pm (IST): Responding to a complaint about the new Moto G64 not coming with the new Hello UI, a Motorola agent on the Lenovo forums said the following:

The decision to launch Moto g64 with myUX instead of Hello UI was based on various factors at the time of its release. It’s not uncommon for companies to run different UIs on different devices. However, we understand your concern and appreciate your feedback. We will forward it to the relevant team. (Source)

So it’s possible that Motorola might be keeping the Hello UI exclusive for new top-end smartphones, like the Motorola Edge series, at least for now.

Update 24/05/24 10:45 am (IST): Regarding the availability of Hello UI on other Motorola phones, a Motorola employee on Reddit said there is no guarantee currently that the new UI will be available for older Moto devices.

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Update 03/05/24 12:38 pm (IST): Motorola users are leaving no stone unturned in their attempt to get the company to bring Hello UI to older phones. A user kick-started a Change.org petition in an attempt to force Motorola to change their stance. The petition currently has a mere 120 signatures, so unless it garners a massive amount of attention, the chances that it will help are slim to none.

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Original article published on April 4, 2024 follows:

Motorola recently unveiled its brand new software skin dubbed ‘Hello UI’. This new software experience is based on Android 14 and the first phone to feature it is the new Motorola Edge 50 Pro. The company claims the new UI will have “unparalleled personalization, security, and ease of use.” Apart from that, Motorola also introduced a few new AI-powered camera features on the Motorola Edge 50 Pro.

The new features include an AI photo enhancement engine, AI adaptive stabilization, tilt shift, auto-focus tracking, and even a long exposure mode. Naturally, after seeing the announcement, some users with older Motorola devices like the Edge 30 Pro and so on were curious about the arrival of Hello UI and the new AI-powered camera features on their devices.

These users took to Reddit as well as the Motorola forums to seek information about whether or not they can expect to see the features on their phones. But sadly, the response make it clear that the answer is a big NO! When asked about the availability of the new AI-powered camera features on the Edge 30 Ultra, a Motorola Admin replied with the following:

Hello,

I’m thrilled to see your excitement for the new AI camera features on the Edge 50 Pro. We’re constantly exploring ways to enhance our older models with fresh features, but sometimes it’s just not feasible due to various considerations.

While we do have some camera improvements in the pipeline with the Android 14 update, I must inform you that currently, there are no plans to introduce these new AI features to our older models.

Thank you for your understanding.

This means users with older smartphones can expect to see a few “improvements” with Android 14, but they shouldn’t have high hopes. Motorola will keep its AI magic exclusive to newer phones. Of course, this isn’t surprising, but for those who dropped good money on devices like the Edge 30 Ultra, it’s disappointing nonetheless.

Similarly, when asked if Hello UI will be available on the Edge 30 on Reddit, a Motorola employee responded saying that the new UI is planned to release with newer phones. The same sentiments were shared when questioned about the availability of Hello UI on the Moto G54 on the official community forums. A Motorola agent said:

At this time, the new UI is only planned for newer phones being launched. We currently don’t have any information on whether the new UI will be brought to our current devices. If we learn more about this, we will be sure to share it with you. You can also check our official blog page for further updates. (Source)

So it’s clear that Motorola has no plans to bring Hello UI or the AI-powered camera features of the Motorola Edge 50 Pro to older phones. While hardware limitations could be a factor, I’d like to point out that Samsung also managed to release its new Galaxy AI features to older phones.

Nevertheless, I’d like to hear your thoughts on Motorola’s decision to reserve Hello UI and the AI-powered camera features for newer models. Do you think it’s a bad move or are you fine with it? Let me know in the comments below!