A guide to Motorola's confusing 2017 lineup

Motorola has been busy this year, releasing more smartphones than you can count on one hand, or is that two? There is, of course, the company’s latest flagship Moto Z2 Force and Play, the G5 range and its new S revision, the Moto E4 and E4 Plus, and the new C series in India, at just a glance. To help sort this all out, here’s our guide to Motorola’s latest smartphone line-up.

The modular flagship tier

Motorola has two Z2 models on the market this year, the Force and Play, with the former being the newly announced top of the line model aimed at taking on the biggest names in the market. As the naming scheme suggests, these are the successors to last year’s Moto Z line-up, which introduced the modular concept. Even though it’s not the most expensive model, the Z2 Play still comes packing in many high-end features that you would expect from a premium product.

There are some differences though, including a lower display resolution and a more limited processing package. While the Z2 Force is undoubtedly the company’s 2017 flagship with the faster Snapdragon 835 processor and QHD display, the Z2 Play is what some would call a super-mid tier product, offering up the bulk of the important specifications and making only a few acceptable sacrifices to save on price.

In terms of similarities, both the Z2 models feature dual 12 megapixel rear camera configurations with PDAF and laser autofocus. The front facing camera is also a wide angle, 5 megapixel affair on both models, suggesting that owners of either handset will have pretty much the same photo features and quality. Motorola’s range of modular accessories is also compatible with both models, so you can grab an extra battery pack or speaker accessory with either model.

The Z2 Plus also comes with a couple of its own perks. The handset boasts a slightly larger 3,000 mAh battery, up from the Force’s controversial 2,730 mAh cell. The phone also retains a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is absent from the more expensive Z2 Force that instead ships with a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adaptor instead. The rear camera specifications also suggest that the Z2 Play should have better low light performance, although we’ll have to test them both out before drawing any definitive conclusions.

Of course, the powerful Snapdragon 835 chipset makes the Z2 Force the obvious choice for gamers and heavy multitaskers. Even so, it’s a bit of a strange state of affairs when the cheaper flagship model looks more appealing in some regards.

The popular G series

The Moto G series propelled Motorola’s mid-tier to fame in previous generations, but this range does sit below the Z2 series in terms of performance and features. The latest G5 range has expanded to cater for a bi-yearly release cycle and those after a plus sized model. The original Moto G5 and G5 Plus made their appearance in February 2017, and these phone have just been followed up by the Moto G5S and G5S Plus in early August. So what are the differences?

The short answer is not a huge amount, for the most part. All of these phones target a very similar performance and price point, ranging from between $200 and $350. The Moto G5 and G5S feature a slightly less powerful Snapdragon 430 processor, rather than the Plus models’ Snapdragon 625 and 626, and cost a little less as a result. Weirdly enough, the Moto G5 Plus and new G5S are the same 5.2-inch size, however the Plus models are the only ones to support NFC in some regions (not the US), which is a must if you’re interested in making use of mobile payments.

Motorola has made some refinements with the introduction of its new G5S models though. The memory options have consolidated, dropping the 2GB of RAM that was found in some regional variations. There’s also an upgrade to Android 7.1 out of the box. Other than that though, there’s still the same display resolutions, fast charging capabilities, water repellent coating, and pretty much identical battery sizes across all of the models.

The new Moto G5S Plus is certainly the most interesting handset in the range though, as it’s specifications look very similar to the more expensive Moto Z2 Play. The hardware is virtually identical, with the exception of an LCD rather than AMOLED panel and the dual rear camera, which is a 13 megapixel f/2.0 configuration in the G5S Plus rather than a 12 megapixel f/1.7 setup in the Z2 Play. The G5S Plus doesn’t have Moto Mod support though, but if that doesn’t interest you then it’s certainly a cost effective alternative to the Z2 Play.

Budget conscious options

Motorola’s popularity in the budget markets has seen the company release another low cost smartphone range this year. In addition to a refresh of its Moto E line-up, there’s now the Moto C range to consider too.

Both line-ups consist of a regular and Plus model, as it now pretty much customary across Motorola’s 2017 portfolio. While the Moto E4 Plus boasts a larger 5.5-inch display, the Moto C Plus has the same 5-inch display as the regular model. Instead, it’s the display resolution that sees a boost from a budget 854×480 up to 1240×720 in the C Plus. Confusing naming scheme right?

As you can see from the table, both the Moto E and C ranges are targeted squarely at the low cost markets, with prices sticking below the $200 and in some cases hovering around the $100 mark. The Moto E series retains a number of core features found in other Motorola devices, including a fingerprint scanner, NFC in some markets, and TurboPower fast charging. Cost savings in this range are made on the 720p display resolution, less powerful MediaTek processing packages (or Snapdragon 425s in the US), and some sacrifices to the camera configurations. Even so, the Moto E range is designed to get basic users through the majority of common smartphones tasks.

The Moto C and C Plus are much more budget conscious options, and have prices to match. The cheapest Moto C model can be bought with just 3G connectivity, and so has been designed specifically with emerging markets in mind. You also won’t find any of Motorola’s familiar bells and whistles here though. There’s no fingerprint scanner, NFC, or fast charging here. The RAM, memory, and camera options are also much more basic. However, customers will still receive Android 7.0 out of the box, which is very welcome revelation in the budget category.

Complicating Motorola’s budget range is regional availability. There are differences in processing packages between US and global Moto E4 models, to accommodate the country’s CDMA networks. The Moto C range doesn’t appear to be going on sale in the US though, instead has been put on sale in India so far, but has also been price in Euros.

In summary

Although Motorola’s naming scheme can help identify roughly which price bracket each range fits into, the differences between devices within the same groups this year has made the company’s line-up more complicated than ever. Especially when phones like the Moto Z2 Play / G5S Plus and the Moto E4 / Moto C Plus blur the lines between the different ranges.

Hopefully this article has helped explain the differences between the various Moto handsets that have made their way to the market in 2017. If not, here’s a very quick bullet point guide of the ranges.

• Moto Z2 – premium tier with mods
• Moto G5 / G5S – mid-range
• Moto E4 – budget market
• Moto C – no frills smartphones / first time buyers

What do you think about Motorola’s expanding smartphone portfolio this year? Is the company’s making too many phones, or is the range of choice a good thing for consumers looking for their perfect handset?