Motorola Moto G8 Plus and Play are very different machines
The Motorola G8 smartphone lineup includes two devices – one called "Plus", the other called "Play". The Plus version has a 6.3-inch display, the Play version has a 6.2-inch display, and both run Android 9.0 Pie – but that's just about* where the similarities end. They may look similar, but they've got significantly different sets of abilities under their hoods.
Both devices use USB-C, both have 3.5mm headphone jacks, both have 4000mAh batteries, both have access to services like GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, and Galileo. But there are some strange differences. Like the Play, for example, has Bluetooth 4.2, while the Plus has Bluetooth 5.0.
Moto G8 Play Specs
Motorola Moto G8 Play will have a 6.2-inch display with HD+ resolution – that's effectively 720p. It'll be 157.6 mm tall, 75.4 mm wide, and 9.0 mm thin. The play will have a USB-C power/data port and 3.5mm headphone jack. The Play will NOT have NFC.
The Moto G8 Play has a 13-megapixel primary camera with f/2.0 aperture and pixel size at 1.25 µm. This device also has an 8 MP camera with f/2.2; 1.12 µm, and a 117-degree FOV ultra-wide lens. There's also a 2 MP depth sensor camera with f/2.2 and 1.75 µm pixels. There's an LED flash at the back as well.
The Play has a MediaTek Helio P70M – 2.0 GHz Octa-Core processor and a 4000mAh battery. This phone has 2GB RAM and total storage 32GB, with a microSD card slot that supports up to 512GB additional storage.
Moto G8 Plus Specs
The Motorola Moto G8 Plus is a significantly beefier smartphone. This device has a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display (a longer-than-normal 1080p panel) with a height at 158.4 mm, width at 75.8 mm, and a thinness of 9.1mm. This device also has USB-C, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and NO NFC.
The main camera on the Moto G8 Plus is a 48-megapixel shooter with Quad-Pixel tech, f/1.7 aperture, and pixels 1.6 µm large. This device has a 5 MP Depth Sensor as well as a third lens that Motorola calls its "Action Camera." The third lens has a 117-degree field of view (Ultra Wide) with Quad Pixel tech and an f/2.2 aperture. This device also has an LED flash.
The Plus has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 (SM6125) – Octa-Core (Quad-core 2.0 GHz + Quad-core 1.8 GHz) processor and a 4000mAh battery. This phone has 4GB RAM and total storage of 64GB – with a microSD card slot that allows up to 512GB additional storage.
Moto G8 Plus and Play release dates and prices
Per Motorola, Moto G8 Play is available today in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Perú. The Moto G8 Plus is available today in Brazil, Mexico and India. It's suggested that the G8 Plus will be "available starting end of October throughout Europe." Motorola said the Plus will start at MSRP of 269 € EUR.
UPDATE: Motorola also noted that the Plus will "roll out by the end of this month in Australia." The plus will also apparently be making its way "in the coming month" to locations across Latin America. The G8 Play was also said to be rolling out "over the coming months" to "other countries in Latin America.
Pricing via Motorola Brazil for the Moto G8 Plus is R$ 1.495,12 (Brazilian Real), while the Moto G8 Play starts at R$ 967.12 (both prices via Motorola Brazil. As such, it's a good bet that the Plus will be approximately 1.5x more expensive than the Play wherever they both shall appear in stores.
UPDATE: Brazilian prices without special introductory "ticket" discount of 12% off is slightly different. Full price of the Moto G8 Play will be R $ 1.099,00, while Moto G8 Plus will be R$ 1.699,00.
So it's looking pretty unlikely that we'll be seeing any Moto G8 Plus or Moto G8 Play here in the United States. But you never know!