At least 12 Moto Mods expected to launch per year, Lenovo says

The Moto Mods that are available for Lenovo’s Moto Z smartphones are more than just a flash in the pan. Lenovo, which now owns Motorola Mobility, told journalists recently that it’s moving full steam ahead with the plug-and-play accessories and, in fact, plans to launch at least 12 new Moto Mods per year.

Lenovo has already worked with partners to introduce mods that offer additional camera hardware, larger batteries, a projector, speakers and more, but the possibilities are almost endless. Lenovo told CNET that it plans to launch Indiegogo campaigns to “drum up more developer interest.” It wasn’t immediately clear if those crowd-funded products are going to count toward Lenovo’s 12 Moto Mods promise, but it should certainly help spur new and innovative ideas.

With Project Ara, Google’s attempt at building affordable modular smartphones, dead in the water, Motorola seems to have the best shot at making something happen. Moto Mods work really well and, in fact, I prefer them to LG’s take on modular smartphones. I hope that partners start to cut the costs of mods, however, since many of the most functional and fun ones, like the Hasselblad camera accessory, are prohibitively expensive for my own enjoyment. $300, for most folks, still sounds more than the cost of a smartphone (though, in reality, you’re often paying much, much more.)

Mods have come so far

CNET suggested Lenovo might consider a few mods with various capabilities, like an eReader mod or even a mod that doubles as a game controller, the latter of which reminds me of one of the original modular smartphones, the LG Versa VX9600. The Versa (pictured above) was released back in 2009 and let users add either a QWERTY keyboard or a gaming controller. My how far we’ve come.