It’s felt like Motorola has been biding its time in the local market, mostly launching mid-tier phones with moderate price tags to match.
Those days are over as the Lenovo-owned smartphone company brings three new phones into Australia, including the new flagship Moto X Style. The three phones were announced late last month in the US and will arrive in Australia in “early September.”
The Moto G (3rd Gen) is, as the name implies, the third phone to bear the Moto G name. It sports a 5-inch screen with a 1,280×720-pixel resolution, a 13-megapixel rear camera and is 4G compatible. While some regions will see a version with 8GB of storage, in Australia we’re getting the 16GB and it can take up to 32GB of external Micro SD storage. It’s IPX7 rated, meaning you can plonk it in water up to a metre deep for 30 minutes without worrying about it. It’s going to be available in retail-only for AU$369.
The Moto X Play is the mid-range, with a 5.5-inch Full HD screen and a massive 21-megapixel rear camera. It comes with either 16GB or 32GB of storage and at launch will be a Vodafone exclusive, where you’ll pay AU$5 per month on the AU$40 plan over two years (minimum cost is AU$1,080). Motorola has mooted the idea of a version coming direct to retail at a later stage, possibly for AU$569, but says this is “to be confirmed.”
Finally, there’s the Moto X Style , which is the Moto X Pure Edition in the US. This is Motorola’s newest flagship and has a screen to match: 5.7-inches with a 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution and 540ppi. The proprietary Turbo Boost charging can get you 10 hours of battery life in 15 minutes, according to Motorola. You’ll be able to choose between 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of storage. The Style will be exclusive to Vodafone for, well, forever, apparently. You’ll get for AU$3 a month on the AU$80 Red plan and over two years you’ll pay a minimum of AU$1,992.
Vodafone’s data inclusions tend to jump up and down with special offers, so we’ll update with more specific plan details as we get closer to launch date. You can see a full breakdown of the differences between the Motorola handsets here.