Moto Z4 Specs Hints At The Beginning Of The End

Once upon a time, Motorola's small smartphone army was led by the Moto X. Ever since Lenovo took over the reins, that has been supplanted by the Moto Z, pushing the Moto X down as a "higher mid-range" product. Now it seems that even the Moto Z is on its way down and perhaps out. That is at least based on some leaked specs about the Moto Z4, which don't exactly inspire confidence as far as the future of Motorola's premium phones are concerned.

Motorola hasn't yet announced a smartphone to compete in the arena that the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10, the Huawei P30, and even the LG G8 ThinQ compete in. It's last "flagship" was the 2018 Moto Z3, which already had 2017 specs inside. That smartphone's singular promise was its 5G-readiness via a Moto Mod. In all other cases, it could barely compete even with last year's mid-range.

The Moto Z4, it seems, will completely go down to that tier. Instead of a Snapdragon 800 series or even a new 700 series chip, 91mobiles says the phone will run on a Snapdragon 675. It didn't get hold of any info on memory but the 4 or 6 GB RAM and 64 or 128 GB storage sounds about right in that context. The 3,600 mAh battery might look generous as well, considering the specs.

If you were hoping the camera would be its saving grace, you might come away disappointed. Yes, it has a 48 megapixel sensor with Quad Pixel technology to make bright 12 or 6 megapixel photos even in low-light. But, these days, very few outside of Google is able to make magic with a single camera sensor, at least on the software side. There's a 25 megapixel front camera but, given the waterdrop notch, don't expect extra features from it.

The Moto Z line is defined and limited by the Moto Mods system, which is what will give this mid-range phone its 5G capabilities in the near future. That ecosystem hasn't exactly turned in Motorola's favor and it seems it is winding down the Moto Z series and preparing to close that chapter of its history.