Thursday, September 22, 2016

U.S. unlocked Moto Z now up for pre-order for $699, shipping next week

You now have a choice beyond Verizon if you want the new Moto Z.

The Moto Z was announced to the world back in June. A little over a month later, it (and the Moto Z Force) hit Verizon. Two more months after that, we now have the U.S. unlocked version available for anyone to buy, regardless of their carrier affiliation. The price is $699, roughly equivalent to the price in the UK, which for those following along at home is $75 more than the "Droid Edition" of the phone. And just as a reminder, there's no choice of getting a Moto Z Force unlocked — that huge-battery shatterproof model still remains exclusive to Verizon.

But if the idea of the svelte Moto Z with its MotoMod swappable components is appealing, and you want to use it on AT&T or T-Mobile (and their associated MVNOs), this is your choice.

As you'd expect you have the Moto Maker-style experience here, where you can choose to include some Mods during the shopping process. Moto has the battery backs for $60-90 each, the speaker for $80 and your choice of the projector or Hasselblad camera mod for $300 each. Interestingly, at the time of writing the simple $20-25 Style Shells are not available to order — though you get the "charcoal ash" wood Style Shell in the box with your order. If you add some Mods and your shopping cart starts tipping north of $1000, you may consider Moto's nice 0% financing options as well.

Though Moto is technically listing the unlocked Moto Z as a "pre-order," going through the ordering process we're seeing a delivery time for September 30, which is just a week away. Presumably if you load up your order with some extra Mods or wait a couple days you'll be dipping into early October. Waiting for nearly four months to get a Moto Z after it was unveiled is mighty frustrating, for sure, but if you've held out, now is your time to drop the cash and get the latest from Moto.

See at Motorola