Display that has been three years in the making ‘will not break no matter how many times the phone is dropped’, and is covered by four-year guarantee

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Motorola has made a very bold claim. It says its latest top-end Android smartphone has a screen that’s not just shatter-resistant but shatterproof, no matter how many times you drop the phone.



If the screen does break in normal use, which includes drops, impacts and falls, but excludes deliberate abuse, Motorola will replace it under a four-year guarantee. .

The screen has been under development for three years, which means it spans both Google’s and Lenovo’s ownership of Motorola. Marcus Frost, senior marketing director for the company in Emea, insists that it is a wholly Motorola endeavour.

“In the past we’ve innovated just because we can. Now we’re attempting to make meaningful innovation, addressing consumer pain points of which battery life and smashed screens are key,” Frost said.

The five-layer screen has a user-replaceable, scratch-resistant top layer, otherwise known as a screen protector, two touchscreen layers – just in case one breaks – and two rigid layers to hold it together. The rest of the phone is not covered by the same four-year guarantee.

A 5.4in quad HD AMOLED display is sandwiched into the five-layer screen, giving it one of the highest pixel densities of any smartphone currently available at 540 pixels per inch. The higher the pixel density the sharper the screen.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Buyers can customise the phone using Motorola’s Maker service, with a variety of backs and colours available. Photograph: Motorola

The rest of the smartphone’s specifications are similar to other versions of the company’s Moto X line, including the phone’s splash resistance. It contains a Qualcomm’s top processor, the Snapdragon 810, and, like the Moto X Style, has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It also has a two-day battery, like the Moto X Play.

The Moto X Force has a microSD card slot for adding extra storage and wireless charging, but no removable battery. The camera on the back is the same 21-megapixel sensor as used on the Moto X Style, but has optical image stabilisation for removing hand shake. The five-megapixel selfie camera on the front of the phone has its own LED flash.

The Moto X Force reads like a smartphone geek’s wishlist, with only one big exception: it doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner, which is quickly becoming the mark of a high-end smartphone.

It also ships running last year’s Android 5.1 Lollipop, not the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but Motorola promises an update will be available.

The Moto X Force will be available in the middle of November in the UK costing £499 with 32GB of storage and £534 with 64GB, with various customisation options through Motorola’s Moto Maker site.