Source: Moto G8 or Moto G8 Plus will pack the Snapdragon 665 and Triple Cameras

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Motorola is preparing to launch the next phone in its Motorola One lineup, the Motorola One Zoom/One Pro. However, we know the company is actively developing at least two additional smartphones: the Moto G8 Play and an unnamed, notch-less smartphone. We’ve been tracking the development of the Moto G8 smartphone series, and while we can’t confirm if the unnamed smartphone is in the Moto G lineup, we have obtained specifications for one of the higher-end devices in the next Moto G series. A reliable source shared specifications for a Moto G smartphone that could be either the Moto G8 or the Moto G8 Plus, but we won’t know which device it’ll be until we get closer to launch. Nevertheless, here’s what we uncovered so far.

Our source tells us a new Moto G smartphone is in the prototyping stage with a model name of XT2019-1 or XT2019-2. The device has not yet been certified by the FCC unlike its lower-end sibling, the G8 Play. Therefore, we don’t know the exact dimensions of the device nor do we know its LTE band support.

Display

We’re confident the Moto G8 (Plus?) will have an FHD+ display with a resolution of 2280×1080 (19:9), but we’re less sure of the phone’s display size. We’re told it’s 6.30-inches, but that might not be accurate. Both the Moto G7 and the Moto G7 Plus had 6.2-inch displays with resolutions of 2270×1080, so it seems that this new Moto G smartphone won’t bring a major increase in display size or resolution over its predecessor. We don’t see any evidence for an under-display fingerprint scanner at this point, so we expect to see this device have a physical sensor on the rear.

Processor

The new Moto G8 (Plus?) is powered by the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 mobile platform, like the Redmi Note 8, Realme 5 Pro, and the Xiaomi Mi A3. In comparison, the Moto G7 was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 while the Moto G7 Plus was powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636. The Snapdragon 665 in the upcoming Moto G8 (Plus?) smartphone will offer marginal improvements in power efficiency, CPU performance, and GPU performance, but the main improvements are in the improved AI on-device processing and the improved ISP. Here’s a table comparing the 3 SoCs:

Snapdragon 632 vs. 636 vs. 665 Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 (sdm632) Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 (sdm660) Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 (sm6125) CPU 4 x performance and 4 x efficiency Kryo 250 CPU cores (Up to 1.8GHz) 4 x performance and 4 x efficiency Kryo 260 CPU cores (Up to 1.8GHz) 4 x performance and 4 x efficiency Kryo 260 CPU cores (Up to 2.0GHz) GPU Adreno 506 Adreno 509 Adreno 610 DSP Hexagon 546 Hexagon 680 Hexagon 686 Memory Type: LPDDR3 Speed: Up to 8GB RAM Type: LPDDR4/4X Speed: Up to 1333MHz, 8GB RAM Type: LPDDR3/LPDDR4x

Speed: Up to 1866MHz, 8GB RAM ISP Dual 14-bit Spectra ISP Single camera: Up to 24MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps; Up to 40MP Dual camera: Up to 13MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps 4k @ 30fps video Dual 14-bit Spectra 160 ISP Single camera: Up to 24 MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps; Up to 48MP Dual camera: Up to 16 MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps 4k @ 30fps video Dual 14-bit Spectra 165 ISP Single camera: Up to 25 MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps; Up to 48MP Dual camera: Up to 16 MP, MFNR, ZSL, 30fps 4K @ 30fps video Modem Snapdragon X9 Snapdragon X12 Snapdragon X12 Manufacturing Process 14nm FinFET 14nm FinFET 11nm FinFET

RAM and Storage

According to the information we’ve obtained, Motorola will offer this new Moto G8 device in a 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant, though there could also be a 4+128GB and 6+64GB and 6+128GB variants. As an upper mid-range smartphone, the storage technology on this device will be UFS 2.1 rather than eMMC. We don’t know the battery capacity, so we can’t comment on the phone’s battery life.

Update: The phone’s battery capacity is likely 4,000mAh. Brazilian tech website TecnoBlog is reporting that a battery with model name KD40 and capacity of 4000mAh was certified by Anatel, Brazil’s equivalent of the FCC. Per the certification, the KD40 battery will be used on a smartphone with model name XT2019-2, which matches our information. Thanks to Felipe Ventura for informing us!

Cameras

The camera hardware is the most intriguing aspect of this new Moto G smartphone. Motorola has typically been modest with the hardware it packs in its mid-range phones, but we’ve seen how the company has evolved in the face of growing competition in the mid-range segment (especially in markets like India.) Today, Motorola’s mid-range devices like the One Action and One Vision show a lot of promise, even if they aren’t going to unseat the current kings of mid-range, that being Xiaomi, Samsung, and Realme.

Currently, we believe the primary camera on the Moto G8 (or Moto G8 Plus) is a 48MP f/1.79 camera (with 4-in-1 pixel binning for a default output resolution of 12MP), while the secondary camera is a 16MP f/2.2 wide-angle camera (94° horizontally) and the tertiary camera is a 5MP f/2.2 camera likely for depth-sensing. On the front, we expect the phone to have a 25MP f/2.0 camera. Some of the phone’s camera features include creating cinemagraphs, portrait mode relighting effects, smart composition, and the Night Vision camera night mode. Motorola may add other camera features that we’re not currently aware of, though.

Software

The phone runs Android 9 Pie and is not part of the Android One program. Thus, the phone will have Motorola’s UI customizations on top, in addition to a handful of apps like Moto Actions, Moto Display, and more.

Connectivity

We’ve identified several models of this Moto G8 series device. A few models have NFC, a few models have a dual SIM card slot, a few support both NFC and dual SIM, and a few support neither. As usual, Motorola changes the hardware slightly when it sells the same phone in different regions.

Launch Date

We don’t know when the Moto G8 or Moto G8 Plus will launch, but it’ll likely launch alongside the Moto G8 Play sometime in the next few months. We expect the phone to be released in several countries in Latin America since it’s Motorola’s strongest market, but we don’t know where else it’ll launch. The U.S., Europe, and India are safe bets, though. Two colors that we’re hearing about include a red and blue color, but there could be other variations in the works. Once we learn more about this upcoming smartphone in the Moto G8 series, we’ll update this article.