Moto Z and Z Force will be exclusive to Verizon until this Fall

Lenovo has just unveiled its new Moto Z and Moto Z Force smartphones at its Tech World event currently taking place in San Francisco, but it looks like US customers will be seeing the phones as the “Moto Droid Editions”, which will be sold exclusively through Verizon for a limited time.

The Droid Edition phones will be exclusive to Verizon in the US until sometime this fall, at which point the unlocked Moto Z and Moto Z Force will go on sale in the US more broadly using their original names. The hardware specifications will remain unchanged between the two releases, it just appears to be the name that is changing. Prices and the exact launch dates for the Moto Droid Editions haven’t been announced yet, but we know that they are launching at some point in the summer.

This isn’t the first time that Verizon has managed to grab an exclusive Motorola handset, the Droid Turbo and Droid Turbo 2 have remained locked down to the carrier since they were announced. Fortunately this time around, US customers on other networks will be able to pick up the new Moto Z handsets, albeit at a slightly later date.

Lenovo states that other parts of the world will see the unlocked Moto Z and Moto Z Force go on sale globally in September, and I imagine that a number of US customers will be eying up imports too. What do you think about Lenovo’s timed exclusive with Verizon, is it better than past deals or are you disappointed not to see a full general release?