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Amazon will make a Moto Mod with Alexa for the Moto Z

It's the latest in a new batch of Moto Mod coming to the company's flagship phone.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Expertise Mobile, 5G, Big Tech, Social Media Credentials
  • SABEW Best in Business 2011 Award for Breaking News Coverage, Eddie Award in 2020 for 5G coverage, runner-up National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award for culture analysis.
Roger Cheng
2 min read
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The Moto Z will get new Moto Mods, including one from Amazon.

Josh Miller/CNET

Amazon has the Moto Z's back.

Lenovo's Motorola unit on Sunday unveiled a number of new Moto Mods -- replaceable backs to the Moto Z that add new capabilities like extra battery life, a projector or better audio. One of the more notable additions is one coming from Amazon, which plans to build a Moto Mod with Alexa.

Jon Kirk, director of Alexa services with Amazon, said it would come later this year.

With LG and even Google abandoning the idea of customizing your phone with different bolt-on parts, Moto is the last brand standing when it comes to embracing the concept of a modular phone.

Dan Dery, vice president and global product leader at Motorola Mobility, boasted that consumers can adopt new technology through a mod rather than buy a new phone.

For example, Moto showed off 5 new Mods and 7 concept designs, like a gaming rig that reminds us of the Nintendo Switch, and a wireless charger.

But having a strong digital assistant on the phone is one of the hottest trends in the mobile world. From Google Assistant to Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana, there's a lot of attention being paid to these assistants and to which one eventually gains the strongest foothold. With an Alexa Mod, Moto would be the second brand after Huawei to integrate Alexa capabilities onto a phone.

Lenovo's Moto division and Amazon showed off a concept video of a Moto Mod that uses Alexa to respond to your questions. The concept video also teased that the Mod could be a speaker built by Harmon Kardon, into which Alexa is integrated.

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