Moto Z2 Force might be thinner, but it'll reportedly take a cut in battery capacity

In less than a week, Motorola will host its #hellomotoworld event in New York City, where the Lenovo subsidiary is expected to unveil the follow-up to 2016’s Moto Z Force, which will likely be dubbed the Moto Z2 Force. Though the phone will reportedly pack updated hardware and a thinner profile, the U.S. version will purportedly pack the worst internals relative to international versions, according to VentureBeat.

In terms of differences, the Z2 Force is expected to be almost a millimeter thinner than its predecessor, which should make the former lighter to old by comparison. Alas, Motorola looks to have reduced the battery capacity as well – a 2,730 mAh battery on the Z2 Force versus the original’s 3,500 mAh power pack.

This reduction in thickness and battery size is likely an attempt to lower the Z2 Force’s profile when using Moto Mods, but it does not take away the sting of a substantially smaller battery. Motorola’s pursuit of thinness by sacrificing battery is a strategy that it also implemented with the Moto Z2 Play, but it is also a strategy that still leaves us scratching our heads.

Elsewhere, the 21 MP camera found on the original Z Force makes way for the Z2 Force’s dual 12 MP sensors. The front camera and Quad HD Shattershield display remains the same, at least in terms of resolution, though Motorola is rumored to have improved on the latter for the Z2 Force.

Under the hood is where things get weird for the Z2 Force. Reportedly powering the phone is the octa-core Snapdragon 835 backed by 4 GB of RAM, an improvement from the original Z Force’s Snapdragon 820. The Z2 Force also purportedly packs 64 GB of internal storage, with a microSD card slot able to tack on up to an additional 2 TB.

On their own, a Snapdragon 835 and 4 GB of RAM are a good combination. However, the rest of the world get 6 GB of RAM, with the Chinese version in particular getting double the storage. Because of the differences, the U.S. version of the Z2 Force is the “weakest” of the bunch, though it seems to be plenty powerful.

The question, then, becomes whether there is enough here for Z Force owners to upgrade. A thinner, lighter profile and dual cameras are nice updates, and the Z2 Force being on more carriers is always a bonus, but there does not seem to be a huge gulf of difference between the two phones.

We will learn more once the phone goes official, but it looks as if Motorola made a good sequel, albeit one that takes one step forward and two steps back.