Verizon really, really wants you to try 5G, so it’s offering a 5G bundle for only $439.99.
Motorola seems to be done with flagships. But it isn’t done with cutting-edge features.
While its new Z4 is definitely a midrange phone, it works with Motorola’s backpack add-on for Verizon’s new 5G system, and Motorola and Verizon plan to sell the two together for $439.99, if someone’s activating a new line. The phone will sell for $499.99 unlocked, with a 360 camera attachment.
“In the US, it’s a duopoly in the flagship space between Apple and Samsung,” said Doug Michau, Motorola’s director of product operations in North America.
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So Motorola is doing what works for the company, and for phone buyers without huge budgets. Its Moto G line of phones have been the No. 1 line of unlocked devices in the US, according to the company, propelling the company to grow here even as overall smartphone sales are dropping. The Z4 is designed to look and feel like a flagship but cost half as much.
Motorola Z-series phones have always felt premium, with rigid aluminum frames and dramatic flat backs to attach their mods, such as add-ons like a projector, an external battery, or a 5G modem. Motorola now has 16 mods available, Michau said. While the company pursued third-party mod development in previous years, none of the high-profile third-party mods—including a physical keyboard shown off at CES 2018—ever made it to market.
“We’ve cornered a lot of the consumer needs on that [mod] functionality,” Michau speculated. “We’ve sold a ton of projector mods; it really transforms the phone. A lot of the battery mods are still popular.”
The Moto Z4 is a lot like the Motorola One Vision, a phone released last week in the rest of the world that Motorola doesn’t intend to sell in the US. It’s powered by Android 9.0 Pie on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 processor. There’s 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The phone has both a memory card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack; that last one is made possible in part by making the phone thicker to accommodate a larger 3600mAh battery than previous years.
