Motorola Making Alexa Speaker Mod For Moto Z Modular Phones

It seems Motorola still has high hopes for its Moto Z lineup of smartphones since it plans to start offering speaker mods equipped with Amazon’s Alexa. This is an attempt to cash in on the rising trend of relying on smart assistants to do things like shopping, setting up schedules, and even connecting to the Internet of Things network.

With Alexa growing in popularity in the US market, it’s hardly a surprise that Motorola would want to take advantage of this fact. Many other tech firms already do, from creators of TVs to car manufacturers. With the Moto Smart Speaker mod, users can have access to most of the features that Alexa comes with.

On that note, it’s worth pointing out that the mod is basically just the Soundboost 2 with Alexa installed. Anyone who already bought that particular mod can expect the same audio quality and features. There is the glowing light effect on the back that mimics the same effect on the Amazon Echo, however, so that’s neat.

As The Verge notes, though, the market for this kind of system can be quite niche. The Moto Z phones would already have access to the Google Assistant thanks to their Android OS, so Alexa wouldn’t strictly be necessary. Anyone who wants to have Alexa can also simply buy the Echo or Echo Dot.

The only people who might find this kind of mod even remotely useful is if they only prefer Alexa as their smart assistant and want to be able to access its features wherever and whenever they want. This includes ordering stuff off of Amazon, which would likely cost data charges when on the go.

The new mod will become available in the US in November in Best Buy, Amazon, and Motorola’s store. The exact date has yet to be announced at the time of writing.