Over half a dozen images depicting what’s said to be Motorola’s Moto Z3 Play wrapped in a prematurely listed Karbon Shield case from Poetic appeared online earlier this week, suggesting the upcoming modular mid-ranger will feature a side-mounted fingerprint reader. The handset revealed by the images seen in the gallery below lacks a physical Home button that could double as such a sensor and its case also doesn’t have a rear cutout that could accommodate the scanner, whereas the Power key installed beneath the volume buttons on the right side of the device appears to be rather large relative to the usual size of that control on Motorola’s other phones. Coupled with the fact that the Power button cutout is rather spacious so as to improve “accessibility,” according to the case manufacturer, the implication of the newly revealed renders is that the Moto Z3 Play features a side-mounted fingerprint reader.
Motorola never opted for such an authentication solution in the past, with side fingerprint sensors previously being known as a hallmark of Xperia handsets, though even Sony started moving away from them this year with the Xperia XZ2, Xperia XZ2 Compact, and the Xperia XZ2 Premium, all of which sport more conventional rear-mounted readers. The Moto Z3 Play itself has already leaked on several occasions but none of its previous sightings pointed to such a biometric system. The smartphone itself is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 636 and boast support for Moto Mods, much like every other member of the Moto Z family.
The newly sighted case doesn’t have a cutout for the Moto Mod connector that’s presumed to be located on the lower back of the Moto Z3 Play, which is in line with Motorola‘s previous devices given how none of them allowed for such modular attachments while wearing a protective case. The Moto Z2 Play was announced in Brazil last June and released in a matter of weeks, with its successor being expected to follow a similar schedule.
