The exterior design for the Motorola Moto P40 Play has seemingly been partly confirmed by a new series of renders depicting a silicon protective case for the phone. The images were shared via SlashLeaks but whether they showcase a first-party or third-party case is unclear, which is why the main focus here should be on the case itself and not the device accompanying it, which seems to be an older or inaccurate model. More on that below.
The silicon case matches the rear-panel design revealed by a series of renders leaked earlier this month as it features the appropriate cutouts for the dual-camera setup, the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and loudspeaker, the side-mounted physical buttons, as well as the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack at the top and USB connector at the bottom.
But the Motorola-branded phone shown in these renders alongside the case looks more like last year’s Moto P30 Play, which might indicate that this is a third-party case solution manufactured according to official specifications but without knowledge of the upcoming model’s front panel design.
Judging by previous renders, the Moto P40 Play should have a drop-style display notch as opposed to a wide rectangular one, akin to many 2018 smartphones, as well as a considerably thicker lower bezel (or “chin”) compared to last year’s model. Of course, the smartphone’s design has yet to be officially confirmed by the OEM so the story could go both ways, especially since two of the four Moto smartphone models unveiled so far by the OEM this year have a rectangular notch, while the remaining two devices have a drop-shaped cutout.
While the smartphone’s design remains in question on one side, the rear panel seems to be more consistent across the more recent leaks which should mean that the Moto P40 Play will have a dual camera setup with each module sitting in its own housing – a design cue that has been adopted by the Moto P30 Play last year, except the new model’s sensors should have different sizes and thus they require an asymmetrical cutout in the protective silicon case.
Ultimately, the point that remains is that Motorola will apparently be spending a significant part of 2019 reducing notch and chin sizes while many of its rivals are drilling display holes, making foldable smartphones, and doing all other sorts of disruptive design experiments.
Moto P40 Play should not be alone
The Moto P40 Play should not be the only device in the upcoming series, at least according to previous leaks and Motorola’s own P30 lineup launched last year. There have also been reports of a potential Moto P40 Power being in the works, with leaked renders suggesting that this model will have three rear-facing cameras and a punch-hole display cutout similar to the Samsung Galaxy S10.
Then there is the standard Moto P40 which could share the notch design with the P40 Power but carry two rear-facing cameras instead of three. This variant has also been rumored to hit the shelves as an Android One device meaning that the software will be largely unaltered and will be subjected to quicker update rollouts, but this might be the case for the entire series, at least outside of China because a proprietary UI might come into play in the Far Eastern market region.
Internal specifications are unknown but previous rumors claimed that the standard Moto P40 could be powered by an Exynos chipset supplied by Samsung. Once again it’s unclear whether this configuration would apply to the rest of the series including the Moto P40 Play, but it would represent a departure from last year’s models, all of which have employed Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset solution.
