The successor of the 2016 variant of the Moto Z smartphone, dubbed the Moto Z (2017), has been spotted on a benchmarking site, suggesting that Motorola is working on a refresh of the flagship handset.
The Moto Z (2017) has popped up on the Geekbench database and offers a peek into the alleged specifications and features of the impending smartphone.
The Geekbench listing was posted on Jan. 21 and shows a Motorola XT1650 model, which is believed to be the next-gen Moto Z.
Lenovo-owned Motorola unveiled the 2016 model of the Moto Z in June, which is a modular handset like the LG G5. It is expected that the company follows the same annual cycle for the Moto Z (2017).
The company has previously shared that it intends to up the ante in 2017, by releasing at least 12 Moto Mods every year. This would help it expand the Moto Z ecosystem.
Moto Z (2017): What Does Geekbench Reveal
The Geekbench listing for the alleged Moto Z (2017) points to the smartphone housing the next-gen octa-core Qualcomm MSM8998 Snapdragon 835 processor, clocked at 1.9 GHz. Since the Moto XT1650 houses the premium Snapdragon 835 CPU, the smartphone could be a top-end offering from the company.
The listed XT1650 model also boasts 4 GB of RAM, which could likely be the faster LPDDR4X variety. The posting shows off the mysterious Moto smartphone running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat. The single-core score for the Motorola XT1650 is 1930, whereas the handset notched up a multi-core score of 6207.
The Geekbench listing does not offer any other details into the Motorola smartphone. However, fans are hoping that like the Moto Z (2016), the next-gen variant at least sports a 5.5-inch QHD screen. The leaked specs reveal that the Snapdragon 820 processor on the Moto Z (2016) will see an improvement. Consumers are hoping that the camera capabilities of the device are also bumped up from 13 megapixels and 5 megapixels for the primary and secondary snappers, respectively.
Moto Z (2017) MWC 2017 Release
The chances of Motorola debuting the rumored Moto Z (2017) at the MWC 2017 in February seems unlikely because it has been a little over six months since it outed the 2016 variant of the handset. It is likely that the company will stick to its annual cycle and reveal the Moto Z (2017) in June instead.
Moreover, just because a smartphone has surfaced on Geekbench does not assure that it will be released to the market. Often, devices make an appearance on the database post their internal testing, but never see the light of day.
Will the Moto Z (2017) stake the claim of being the world's thinnest smartphone once again? It remains to be seen.
