Rounding up the latest info on Motorola’s next budget champs.
When it comes to budget smartphones, few brands are as recognizable as the Moto G series.
The first Moto G from 2013 made us rethink what kind of smartphone you could buy for not a lot of money, and since then, its various successors have kept that spirit alive.
Last year’s Moto G6 series are some of the best budget Android phones around, so how in the world will Motorola improve for gen 7? Here’s everything we know about the Moto G7, G7 Play, and G7 Plus!
The latest Moto G7 news
January 3, 2019 — Moto G7 design confirmed once again thanks to case renders
We already have a pretty good idea at this point as to what the Moto G7 will look like, but thanks to a new batch of case renders from Slash Leaks, we now have a new look at the phone from a few different angles.
The case renders don’t reveal anything new about the G7 but further confirm the design we’ve already seen a few times now.
We can expect the phone to have a waterdrop-style notch at the top of the display, dual rear cameras, a fingerprint sensor below the cameras embedded in the Motorola logo, USB-C port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Are you still looking forward to the Moto G7?
November 27, 2018 — Moto G7 Play appears for the first time in FCC filing
We’ve seen the Moto G7 and the G7 Plus, and to round everything out, we now have our first look at the lowest end of the trio — the G7 Play. Spotted by our pals at Droid Life, the Moto G7 Play recently made a stop by the FCC in the United States. As a result of this, we now have real-life images of the phone and a few official specs.
The G7 Play is similar to the G7 and G7 Plus in the sense that it has a notch at the top and slimmer bezels compared to its predecessor, but unlike the other two phones, the G7 Play’s notch has the traditional iPhone X-like design instead of the new waterdrop one. Around back, we’re met with a plastic design instead of glass and one rear camera rather than two.
There is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot for expanding the internal storage, and USB-C for charging. Under the hood, some confirmed specs include a 2,820 mAh battery and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 processor.
November 16, 2018 — This is the Moto G7 Plus
Hot on the heels of the Moto G7 render we saw yesterday, Mr Gizmo Blog has returned with our first look at the larger Moto G7 Plus.
The Plus model is pretty much identical to the regular G7 from a design point of view, sharing the same waterdrop notch, dual rear cameras, and glass back. The screen’s a bit larger at 6.4-inches and has an extra-tall 19.5:9 form factor. The processor could also see an upgrade to the Snapdragon 670 or 710, with other specs including up to 6GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, and a 16MP + 5MP dual rear camera combo.
November 15, 2018 — New render confirms Moto G7 design with dual cameras & waterdrop notch
It’s been a hot minute since we’ve heard anything about the Moto G7, but thanks to Mr Gizmo Blog, we have yet another look at Motorola’s impending handset.
Similar to the first render we saw back in October, this new one confirms a lot of what we already know. The Moto G7 will have a waterdrop-style notch, glass back, dual rear cameras, and a fingerprint sensor embedded in the “M” logo on the back.
Something that is new, however, is the phone’s now shown in a black color instead of the silver one we saw previously. Also, while there’s no way to confirm this, Mr Gizmo Blog notes that, “the Moto G7 might be the company’s first G-series smartphone to offer Qi wireless charging support.”
Other rumored specs include a 6-inch Full HD+ display, an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 3,500 mAh battery, and Android 9 Pie running out of the box.
October 5, 2018 — First Moto G7 renders reveal glass back, waterdrop-style notch, rear fingerprint sensor, and more
Thanks to MySmartPrice and @OnLeaks, we now have our very first renders of the upcoming Moto G7.
Similar to the G6, the Moto G7 will have a curved glass back, USB-C port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s now a speaker grill joining these two ports on the bottom frame, suggesting that this could be used in conjunction with the front-facing speaker at the top of the phone to create stereo audio.
Also on the front of the phone is a large 6-inch display with a smaller bottom bezel and waterdrop-style notch at the top that houses the front-facing camera. To make the bottom bezel smaller, the fingerprint sensor has been moved to the back on the Moto “M” logo right below the dual rear cameras.
Exact specs are still unknown, but the current rumor mill is suggesting an unnamed octa-core processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB of internal storage, and a 3,500 mAh battery. Add that together with Android 9 Pie available out of the box, and this could be one of the best affordable phones we see next year.
All the big details
What will the phones look like?
Moto G7 (left) and Moto G7 Plus (right)
The Moto G6 brought one of the biggest design shakeups to the G series last year with a glass back and tall 18:9 display with slim bezels. Based on what we’ve seen so far, the G7 lineup looks to be a refinement of that aesthetic.
High-quality renders of the G7 and G7 Plus have surfaced, showcasing two phones with glass backs, large displays with tiny bezels, and dual rear cameras. Perhaps the biggest design change compared to last year is the introduction of a notch.
The G7 and G7 Plus opt for a less obtrusive waterdrop notch, and honestly, it doesn’t look half bad.
As for the lower-end G7 Play, the only picture we’ve seen so far comes from the below hands-on shot from an FCC listing.
It looks like the G7 Play will opt for a plastic back instead of a glass one, and instead of two rear cameras, there’s just one.
What specs can we look forward to?
Exact specs for the Moto G7 series have yet to be confirmed, but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from slowly trickling out features to look forward to. Here’s what we’re currently expecting for the G7, G7 Play, and G7 Plus according to the latest news/reports!
| Operating system | Android 9 Pie | Android 9 Pie | Android 9 Pie |
| Display | 6-inches Full HD+ | Unknown | 6.4-inches 19.5:9 aspect ratio Full HD+ |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 or 710 |
| Storage | 64GB | Unknown | 128GB |
| RAM | 4GB | Unknown | 6GB |
| Rear cameras | 16MP main sensor 5MP depth sensor | One rear camera | 16MP main sensor 5MP depth sensor |
| Front camera | 12MP | Unknown | 12MP |
| Battery | 3,500 mAh | 2,820 mAh | Unknown |
| Charging | USB-C Qi wireless charging | USB-C | USB-C Qi wireless charging |
| Security | Rear fingerprint sensor | Rear fingerprint sensor | Rear fingerprint sensor |
| Colors | Black Silver | Black Silvery-blue | Dark Blue |
When will the Moto G7 series be released?
In regards to the Moto G7 lineup’s release date, it’s currently up in the air.
The Moto G5 phones were released as early as March 2017 in some markets, whereas this year’s Moto G6 didn’t come out until May 9, 2018.
We fully expect the phones to come out in either Q1 or early Q2, but that’s about as specific as we can get for the time being.
How much will the phones cost?
Motorola’s Moto G devices are among the best values in the smartphone space, and with the G7, that likely won’t change.
The Moto G5 launched with a retail price of around $170 while the G6 came in at $250.
It’s hard to tell if we’ll get another price bump this year or not seeing as how the G7 looks to be a minor upgrade over the G6, so we’d expect the price to either stay the same or go up by $20 or $25. Along with that, we’re expecting the G7 Plus and G7 Play to cost more and less, respectively, than the base G7.
