Motorola’s Moto Z Mod Backplates Show off Swappable Wood, Leather, and Other Options

BY Evan Selleck

Published 5 Jun 2016


Moto Z backplate

Having a phone’s backplate be swappable isn’t an entirely new idea, but the Lenovo-backed Motorola is at least looking to spice things up.

Thanks to a leak from HellomotoHK, we’ve got a clear look at how Motorola is expanding the idea of customization for its upcoming, but still unofficial, Moto Z flagship. The company has offered a way to customize devices, from color, to highlights, to backplate material, through Moto Maker for quite some time now, but things will be changing up a bit this year.

Unlike previous years, Motorola will allow owners of its flagship lineup to continue to customize their devices, by way of a swappable backplate, after they buy the handset. Based on the image above, we can see that there will be a wood option, as well as a leather variant, too. It looks like there will be plenty of color options as well. (www.ameriseed.net)

Moto Z backplate2

We can also see that when the backplate is locked into place, the camera is flush.

The MotoMods idea will also expand to built-in accessories, including camera grips, external speakers, and more options. It’s one way that Motorola is jumping into the modular phone design, and it will be interesting to see how that carries over for owners with the swappable backplates.

Motorola has teased it has an announcement planned for June 9, so we could see the new Moto Z lineup announced then.

Are you getting excited for the Moto Z?