Rumors about the upcoming Moto G have started to appear online, and multiple sources corroborate that the Moto G 2015 is bound to be a disappointment.
Google+ user Neo Lee uploaded a series of images of what he claimed to be the next-generation mid-range smartphone from Motorola. Lee said the photos come from "a Chinese digital forum" but did not include a link to the forum, saying the original poster had already deleted the photos.
The images show what seems to be a smaller version of the leaked Moto X, with the same basic design and a couple of changes to differentiate Motorola's mid-range smartphone from its flagship device. Motorola seems to be going for texture on the back of the Moto G. Sitting at the upper center of the rear panel is a vertical strip similar to what appears on the LG G4. The strip contains the camera sensor at the top, but no other controls are placed anywhere else.
Lee said the images show a smartphone with model number XT1543, which is in keeping with Motorola's naming traditions for the Moto G. The first-gen unlocked Moto G was model number XT1032, while the second-gen version was XT1064. The Moto G 2015 appears to have Android 5.1.1 Lollipop running out of the box, according to the images.
The image leaks confirm the claims of a YouTube video posted by Leonardo Flaschi detailing the rumored specs of the Moto G. Running Snapdragon 410 under the hood, 1GB of RAM and with 8GB of expandable storage, the third-gen Moto G with a five-inch display appears to be an evolutionary upgrade over the 2014 version, which has a Snapdragon 400 processor and the same RAM and storage specs.
On the rear, Motorola is upgrading the camera to a 13MP shooter, up from the 8MP of the current model. The front-facing selfie camera also gets a bump from 2MP to 5MP. Battery-wise, the new Moto G will reportedly get an upgraded 2,300 mAh, which is slightly bigger than the 2,070 mAh battery on the Moto G 2014. Motorola may also not include an HSPA-only version of the next Moto G, as the video says the model is LTE-only.
In May, a Reddit user named MotoLeaks claimed the upcoming Moto G will sport the same specs detailed by the latest sources. The post has since been deleted, but not before 9to5Google caught sight of it. The user said Motorola is planning to launch a new line of mid-range smartphones with better specs than the Moto G but will charge customers $100 more.
"Sorry to disappoint you guys, but the device will be very similar to the previous generation and still have 1GB of RAM," MotoLeaks said. "The back of the phone has been changed to have an oval shape around the camera similar to the LG phones but thinner. This will be the new look for all upcoming Moto phones. There will be a new tier of Droid costing $300 that will have much better specs than the Moto G, the plan is to get users to pay $100 more for that phone instead."
