Moto G Play (2021) vs Sony Xperia XZ1 (late 2017)

Popular Mechanics, a source known for its hands-on testing and objective methodology, had good things to say about the Moto G Play (2021). It performed great in its "The 9 Best Cheap Phones to Buy Right Now" roundup and earned the "Ranked 2 out of 9" title.

Returning to the Sony Xperia XZ1 (late 2017), PCmag, a source that's known for its high-quality in-depth testing, has great things to say about it. In fact, it was named its "Ranked 2 out of 12" in its "The Best of IFA 2017" roundup, which is quite a feat.

We analyzed all of the review data that we could find on these two Smartphones. First, we examined sources that tested and scored both of these products - Android Authority and PhoneArena favored the Sony Xperia XZ1 (late 2017) over the Moto G Play (2021), whereas reviewers at PCmag haven't shown a preference for either.

Then we took a look at which sources liked them the most - we found that the Moto G Play (2021) was best received by PCmag - it gave it a score of 8, whereas the Sony Xperia XZ1 (late 2017) got its highest score of 8.6 from reviewers at GSMArena.

Lastly, in order to better compare them to the rest of their competition, we averaged out their review scores. The Sony Xperia XZ1 (late 2017) managed to get 7.7 out of 10 - considerably better than the 7.5 review average of Smartphones in general - whereas the Moto G Play (2021) earned 7.5 points.

It should be said that doing a direct Moto G Play (2021) vs. Sony Xperia XZ1 (late 2017) comparison might not be entirely fair due to the difference in their prices - some sources don't put much weight on value for money and thus tend to give better review scores to more expensive products.