It wasn’t announced alongside the G6 and E5 in April, but the Moto Z3 will top Motorola’s Android smartphone line-up this summer. We outline the rumours surrounding the Moto Z3 launch date, UK price and specifications.
Last summer Motorola announced its Moto Z2 Play and Moto Z2 Force, but this year we should see three new models: the Moto Z3, Moto Z3 Play and Moto Z3 Force. The Z3 and Z3 Play will land first – again in the summer – with 6in ‘borderless’ displays and support for a new 5G Moto Mod.
Very little was previously known about these phones other than what we could glean from the leaked images (via Droid-Life) and our knowledge of previous Motorola product launches, but the Moto Z3 Play has just popped up at the FCC complete with a spec sheet.
The Z3 Play is host to the mid-range Snapdragon 636, along with 4GB of RAM, 32- or 64GB of storage, a 3,000mAh battery, a 12Mp + 8Mp dual-camera and 5Mp selfie camera.
The Moto Z3 Play is shown at the top of this article, and Moto Z3 below.
As with the upcoming Moto X5, no fingerprint scanner is obvious in the leaked images, though it could be embedded in the display or the rear Motorola logo, or the Z3 might make use of an iris scanner instead. The same white line is visible at the bottom of the screen, though, which could be used as a virtual home button.
Through case renders that have since leaked it has become apparent that the fingerprint scanner has moved to the right side of the phone and that Motorola has removed the 3.5mm headphone jack.
Both Moto Z3 and Z3 Play are expected to get a 6in 18:9 display with a full-HD resolution of 2160×1080 pixels. But there won’t be an iPhone X-like ‘notch’, as is expected for the X5.
The Play version, in common with the anticipated Moto G6 Play, will probably see a larger-capacity battery but some slimmed-down specs that allow for a lower price tag.
When the Moto Z3 Force arrives later in the summer it will likely have a higher-resolution (probably Quad-HD) screen, the Snapdragon 845 processor and a flagship-level price tag.
In 2017 we saw the Moto Z2 Play launch on 1 June, and the Moto Z2 Force on 25 July. We’d expect to see a similar time frame in 2018, with the Moto Z3 and Z3 Play unveiled in early June, and the Z3 Force in late July.
We’ll update this story when we know more.
Read next: Best new phones coming in 2018 .
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