We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use.

Motorola Moto Z3

 & Ajay Kumar Contributor

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

Our Expert
LOOK INSIDE PC LABS HOW WE TEST
65 EXPERTS
43 YEARS
41,500+ REVIEWS

Front

If you want to save some screen real estate you can switch between Android virtual buttons or a new, Android P/iOS-like horizontal bar, which uses taps and swipes to navigate.

Back

The upcoming 5G Moto Mod has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G modem in it, an X24 4G modem, and its own 2,000mAh battery that it shares with the phone.

Right

The fingerprint sensor has been moved to the right side, under the volume buttons.

Bottom

There's no 3.5mm headphone jack, but the phone does ship with a USB-C dongle for wired audio.

Left

The Snapdragon 835, which was last year's flagship chip, doesn't support 5G, but all of that magic will come in the aforementioned Mod

Top

The phone is splash resistant, but not waterproof.

Camera

The Z3 has dual 12-megapixel main cameras, and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera.

Display

. On the front, you'll find an 18:9, 6-inch, 2,160-by-1,080 AMOLED screen with saturated colors and inky blacks.

Apps

he phone runs Android 8.1 Oreo, but because it's a carrier phone, it does come with bloatware.

Moto Z3, Z3 Play Display

The Z3 has the same screen as the Z3 Play.

Moto Z3,Z3 Play Back

The Z3 itself is easy to confuse with the rest of Motorola's Z-series. It looks a lot like the Moto Z2 Force Edition and is almost identical to the Z3 Play.

Moto Mods

The Z3 is backward compatible with all the Moto Mods that have been released to date and works with everything from the various battery Mods to the Moto Gamepad.

About Our Expert

Ajay Kumar

Ajay Kumar

Contributor

Ajay has worked in tech journalism for more than a decade as a reporter, analyst, and editor. He got his start in consumer tech reviewing hundreds of smartphones and tablets at PCMag as a Mobile Analyst, and breaking the hottest Android news at Newsweek as a tech reporter. 

In his most recent role, he’s worked in content marketing for a B2B SaaS company and in a PR capacity at an AI startup. Previously, he was Managing Commerce Editor at Android Police and Section Editor, Mobile at Digital Trends, where he spearheaded his team's coverage of breaking news, features, reviews, roundups, deals and more. He also worked at Lifewire as a Tech Commerce Editor, putting together tested best-of lists and assigning product reviews. 

As an avid tech enthusiast and traveler, Ajay loves tinkering with the gaming PC he built, adding new smart home devices to his apartment, and scoping out ancient ruins in new countries.

Read full bio