Unfortunately for Motorola, its unreleased Moto G7 Play has completely leaked — all thanks to the FCC. Truly everything about the phone is now available through the agency, including the device’s manual, images of its exterior and interior, and technical details. Maybe the biggest news, though, is that this latest iteration to the midrange G series line features a notch. We can’t escape it, not that we really thought we could.
The notch houses a front-facing camera, flash, and speaker, per the manual. It isn’t clear whether there will be some sort of face-recognition feature. The phone also includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 processor, which would be a step up from last year’s 400 series chip.
Other hardware features include a headphone jack (yay), a rear fingerprint sensor, a USB-C port, and a single rear-facing camera. Last year’s model used Micro USB and only shipped with a single rear camera, while the regular G6 and G6 Plus both included USB-C and dual rear-facing cameras. The FCC listing shows off two colorways: black and light blue.
The Verge’s Jake Kastrenakes reviewed the G6 Play this past summer and really only loved its 4,000mAh battery. This time around, it looks like the phone will ship with a 2,820mAh battery. This is a huge bummer. Motorola made a similar decision earlier this year with its Moto Z3 Play, which featured a 3,000mAh battery, down from the 3,510 mAh battery in the original Moto Z Play. At least in that case, the business strategy was obvious — Motorola could sell more battery mods for a device with less battery life. With the G7 Play, it isn’t clear why the company would opt for a smaller battery.
So we’re getting a notch and a smaller battery, that doesn’t sound so great! Most every new phone has a notch now, apart from Samsung devices, which have held out so far. (The company says that’ll change soon, though.) Google made it easy for manufacturers to build around the notch, as Android Pie supports the design and allows developers to code for it. Regardless of whether it’s a flagship or midrange or budget phone, the notch is everywhere.
We don’t have a release date or price for the Moto G7 Play, although this year’s model launched in March.
