Moto Z is likely to get Tango AR functionality through a MotoMod

As you may know, the Lenovo Phab2 Pro is the first smartphone ever to ship with Tango augmented reality (AR) technology on board. Tango has been in development at Google for a few years now, and the Phab2 Pro recently became available to buy. To work its magic, Tango needs some specific hardware like motion trackers and depth sensing cameras.

While that can be built into a new device of course, Motorola is apparently planning a different course of action. The Lenovo-owned company's CEO, Aymar de Lencquesaing, said at a press event that Tango might be on its way to the Moto Z. The AR tech is not going to be put into a special edition version of the flagship smartphone or anything like that. Instead, Motorola is looking to release a new MotoMod modular accessory that incorporates the additional sensors needed for Tango. Then, once you'd snap that mod onto your Moto Z, it would instantly become Tango compatible.

This would definitely be an intriguing MotoMod. So far, we've only seen a few of these modular attachments for the Moto Z line, and none of them has been very successful. The Tango mod could perhaps be the exception. That said, it's still not a given that this will actually happen. Here's de Lencquesaing's full quote on the matter:

We're likely to to have a Tango module to basically enable the Z to have Tango functionality.

"Likely" doesn't mean "we're already working on it", so this may still be a ways off. On the flip side, Motorola's CEO seems quite impressed with mobile AR, going on to say that it's "a technology that's likely to stick".

Source