Moto Z3 review: The Moto Mod flagship that shipped a 5G upgrade module.
The phone you could upgrade to 5G.
Moto Z3 shipped with a 5G Moto Mod that, with a compatible network, turned it into one of the earliest 5G-capable phones via a snap-on accessory. The SD835 was a year old, but the modular 5G story made it a genuine curiosity.
01Display
78/10078/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2018.
02Camera
62/10062/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2018 — 13 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
03Performance
68/10068/100 is one of the weaker performance results among flagship phones of 2018 — 8 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
04Battery
60/10060/100 is one of the weaker battery results among flagship phones of 2018 — 12 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
05Build
70/10070/100 is one of the weaker build results among flagship phones of 2018 — 9 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.
06Value
62/10062/100 trails the 65-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2018.
- 5G Moto Mod made it upgradable to 5G.
- Backwards-compatible with all Moto Mods.
- Snapdragon 835, slim build.
- microSD survives.
- Used last-year's SD835.
- Small 3,000 mAh battery.
- No jack.
- Mods still pricey.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 138-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .