When Motorola told us that it had no plans to bring the Moto X Play to the US nor to sell the Moto X Pure Edition in carrier stores, we knew that another pair of shoes would drop: the Droid line of phones on Verizon. Typically, these phones are tweaked and rebranded versions of what Motorola sells elsewhere, and now Phandroid is reporting from sources that Verizon will be going back to that same playbook.
First up: the Droid Maxx 2. The Maxx line is about battery life, and the Moto X Play is a version of the Moto X that just happens to be all about battery life. Phandroid claims that the Maxx 2 will be a US version of the Play — though it's possible that the precise hardware specs will change. What apparently won't change much is the price: it should cost around $300 all in.
The Droid Turbo 2 is another Verizon exclusive, and last year's model was essentially a souped-up version of the last Moto X. This year, expect the same, with at least a couple key changes: wireless charging and a Plastic OLED display. The former is lacking on the Moto X Pure Edition and the latter is the same technology that allowed LG to bend the display on its LG G 4. Rather than bending the display on the Droid Turbo 2, Verizon reportedly intends to market the screen as "unbreakable." That's probably overstating it by quite a bit, but it should be less prone to shattering than glass. Phandroid says that it'll cost about $600.
But if Verizon's customized versions of Motorola's phones (and the extra software that comes with them) don't appeal to you, know that the Moto X Pure Edition has all the LTE bands necessary to work on the carrier. It also has another thing that these new Droid phones don't yet have: a known release date, September 3rd.