Moto Z

Moto Z is an Android phablet smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility. Unveiled on June 9, 2016, as its flagship model for the year, the Moto Z is distinguished by the "Moto Mods" technosystem which allows case accessories to be magnetically attached to the device to provide additional functionality. The Moto Z was later joined by the more rugged Moto Z Force of which shares most of the same internals as the former, and the mid-range Moto Z Play with downgraded specifications, all three devices being compatible with the modular system.

In the United States, Moto Z is carrier-exclusive to Verizon Wireless under the name Moto Z Droid Edition, as part of the Droid line of smartphones that are exclusively manufactured by Motorola. It was released direct-to-consumer as an unlocked device in September 2016. The phone was the final one to carry the Droid branding, as Verizon discontinued it after its release.

The Moto Z, Moto Z Force, and Moto Z Play were succeeded by the Moto Z2 Force and Moto Z2 Play which retain compatibility with the modular system.

The regular Moto Z chassis uses a metal frame and body; with no accessories installed, the device is only 5.2 mm thick. The rear contains pogo pin connectors used to communicate with "MotoMod" accessories designed for the device. The Moto Z includes a 5.5-inch 1440p display, a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip, and 4 GB of RAM. The Moto Z includes either 32 or 64 GiB of internal storage, expandable via MicroSDXC card, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and a fingerprint scanner. The Moto Z uses a USB-C connector, and does not include a 3.5 mm headphone jack; headphones must be used with a USB port adapter or over Bluetooth. The phone houses the cs47L35 hifi dac as opposed to some speculations of inbuilt aquistic dac.

There is also a rugged variant known as the Moto Z Force which shares most of the same internals as the base model. Differences include a larger 3500 mAh battery, 21-megapixel camera, and the company's "shatter-resistant" display, which consists of polycarbonate layers accompanied by an interior frame to provide reinforcement as opposed to glass. Due to this construction, it is also slightly thicker than the base model. The Force model is exclusive to Verizon Wireless.

A third version, Moto Z Play, was unveiled at IFA Berlin; it is a mid-range model with downgraded specifications and similar market positioning to the previous year's Moto X Play, including a Snapdragon 625 system-on-chip, 3 GB of RAM, a 1080p display, no optical image stabilization in the rear camera, and a thicker chassis. Unlike the other models, the Z Play has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Similarly to the Moto X Play, it also includes a larger, 3510 mAh battery which Motorola promoted as the "longest lasting battery" that the company had ever incorporated into a smartphone. As with the other models in its family, it is compatible with MotoMod accessories.

The Moto Z features an accessory system known as "Moto Mods". Mods are case-like accessories that are attached to the rear of the Moto Z via a series of magnets. Using the pogo pin connectors, Mods can communicate with the device to provide additional functionality. Mods are hot swappable, and are automatically detected by the operating system software once installed. During the launch event, Lenovo unveiled several mods to be available on launch, including battery packs, the "SoundBoost" (which features a JBL speaker and a kickstand), and a pico projector ("Insta-Share"). All Moto Z devices ship with a "Style Shell"—a basic rear cover, as well as a clear, plastic "bumper" case that protects the bezel of the device.

Lenovo will allow third-party development of Mods, and plans to provide US$1 million in funding to the best prototype concept as part of a contest. To ensure that Mods will be backwards compatible with newer revisions of the Moto Z, Lenovo stated that it planned to maintain the device's overall design and dimensions for two hardware generations.