Moto Z price, release date, specs and rumors

Moto Z release date and price

The Moto Z release date has not yet been set, but a series of teasers from Motorola strongly suggest that a launch will take place on June 9 as part of Lenovo's Tech World event.

As for the Moto Z price, the Moto X Pure Edition started at $399 so it would be reasonable to expect a starting point of $400-450. This would follow a fairly steady pricing pattern from Motorola. 

Moto Z name

Lenovo will drop the Moto X brand and reintroduce it as the Moto Z.

The leak arrived via Evan Blass, who also recently speculated that the devices would feature a modular design. The decision to rebrand the Moto X and not the fourth-generation Moto G range suggests that the Moto X series may not be as successful as Lenovo would like.

Lenovo’s adoption of the Moto Z moniker could also affect Verizon-branded Moto devices. Blass wrote that successors to the Droid Turbo 2 and Droid Maxx 2 may instead have "Droid Edition" naming, such as the Moto Z Play Droid Edition and Moto Z Style Droid Edition.

On the same day Blass made this claim, it turns out that Motorola filed a trademark application for "MOTO Z". While companies trademark names aplenty, with many never being used on products, the evidence for a Moto X rebranding is beginning to mount. 

Following the acquisition of Motorola from Google in 2014, Lenovo set out to restructure its business with two core brands: Lenovo Moto and Lenovo Vibe. Back in February, Lenovo announced that it had “achieved its stated goal of breaking even in its mobile business four-to-six quarters after the close of the Motorola deal”.

Moto Z features

Tech.sina's article cites Chen Xudong as saying all of Lenovo's phones would come equipped with fingerprint scanners. That means there is a good chance that the high-end Moto Z will have one as well. 

What's more, Evan Blass claims that the devices will have support for modules, similar to the LG G5. Blass claims that six modules will be available with the launch of the Moto Z: read more about them in our original story.

The device's rumored support for modules has gained traction through a series of teasers Motorola has been sharing, promising to "transform mobile", feeding off the nostalgia factor of its Razr clamshell phones, and stating "snapping is the new flipping".

Moto Z specs

Evan Blass, writing for VentureBeat, recently revealed potential specs for the Moto Z devices. Apparently, the high-end version will include a 5.5-inch QHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) display, Snapdragon 820 processor, 3 or 4 GB of RAM (both versions will be available), 13 MP camera with OIS and 32 GB of internal storage, in addition to a 2,600-mAh battery. 

The lower-cost device may arrive with a 5.5-inch Full-HD (1,920 x 1,080) display, Snapdragon 625 processor, 2 or 3 GB of RAM, 16 GB or 32 GB of storage, and a 16 MP rear camera. This would be backed by a 3,500-mAh battery. 

The devices are rumored to be called the Moto Z Style and Moto Z Play, but there's no official word on this yet.

Moto Z design

A leaked photo from the Chinese site Wapvnet shows the Moto Z with a metallic frame and a camera on the back. It looks different from previous models but it is difficult to discern details because the photo is a little dark

The logo appears to be more or less in a similar place to where it is found on Moto X devices and could be relative to the size of the camera. In the photo, the logo is flat, which is different from the depressed logos in previous editions. What's more, the handset appears to have pins for extra modules (read more about those at the bottom of the page).

A leaked render, confirmed by reputable leakster Evan Blass, shows the Moto Z in white. It abides closely with earlier leaked images, showing a round camera unit on the back, above the Moto bat wing logo, and a square home button, which looks set to double as a fingerprint scanner.

Judging from the side render, the camera unit looks to protrude quite noticeably from the rear panel, which may upset some, as it did with the Galaxy S6. 

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