Moto X 2017: News and rumors

Why it matters to you

Lenovo has offered solid budget and midrange options under the Moto brand as of late, and hopefully the Moto X can continue that trend.

It looks like the much-loved and somewhat iconic Moto X may not be dead just yet. Once known as Motorola’s flagship, the Moto X could soon be reborn as a more midrange phone now that the Moto Z has taken over as the brand’s top-tier device.

Here’s everything we think we know about the Moto X’s return.

Design

A 9-second off-screen video of a presentation of the Moto X leaked to Reddit by way of Baidu briefly shows renders of the device in full detail. Quick panning shots of the hardware depict a phone that, like the latest leaks, contains a dual-lens camera. In other respects, however, this Moto X actually looks quite different — especially at the rear.

Up until now, most images of the phone showed a metal back with antenna lines at the top and bottom, along with an embossed Motorola logo. Here, we see a more polished surface without any lines, indicating what looks more like glass, rather than metal. The camera housing also appears to have been revised, with the flash now located above the lenses.

Back in December, we were treated to some of our first leaks about Lenovo’s upcoming midrange offering. Renders provided by @OnLeaks showed a curved, chamfered handset somewhat resembling Lenovo’s Moto Z. Unlike the Moto Z, this device appeared to have a screen measuring 5.2 inches in length rather than the traditional 5.5 inches. It also retained a 3.5mm audio jack.

About the same time, we saw a series of photos from TechDroider, featuring a similar phone that very heavily resembled the Moto Z — only without the pins for Moto Mod functionality at the back. Moto Mods are something that Lenovo has said will remain consistent in top-tier Moto phones for the foreseeable future, so the Moto X wasn’t expected to support them anyway.

Subsequent images, like this one from Twitter user @krispitech and another courtesy of Jerry Yin on Google+, seen below, retained the same overall look and feel of the devices in those initial leaks, while adding an important distinction — a dual-sensor camera.

In general, the device seems to be a mishmash of other Moto phones. For example, it has the same metal chassis that can be seen on the Moto M, as well as a front-mounted fingerprint sensor just like the one found on the new Moto G5. The camera also sports a similar design to that of the Moto Z.

Specs

The presentation video that broke in May didn’t reveal a whole lot about the Moto X’s specs, aside from IP68 water resistance — meaning it can be submerged in up to 1.5m for a maximum of 30 minutes. This would put it on equal footing with the Samsung Galaxy S8, which also sports an IP68 rating.

The Google+ leak included a photo of the device’s recovery mode, which could give us a basic idea of the hardware that could power the upcoming smartphone. According to the image, we’re looking at a Qualcomm MSM8953 — in other words, a Snapdragon 625 — paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage.

For reference, the Moto G5 Plus that recently launched in the United States features the same processor, alongside 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage in its base-level, $230 configuration. Spend $50 more, and the G5 Plus can actually be had with double the memory and storage, which would put it firmly above the specs listed here, despite purportedly being Lenovo’s “budget” smartphone.

Keeping that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Moto X launch with more powerful specs. The same Reddit leak that provided the 9-second video also mentioned the inclusion of a Snapdragon 660 system-on-chip, alongside 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The battery on board, according to the post, is 3,800mAh in capacity and will also support some form of Qualcomm’s Quick Charge tech.

Currently, we still have no idea on a timetable for release. None of these details are final, and it’s likely we’ll see continue to see images and specs leaked between now and the Moto X’s eventual launch. Stay tuned for more news.

Article originally published in November by Christian de Looper. Kyle Wiggers contributed to this report. Updated on 05-15-2017 by Adam Ismail: Added presentation leak.