Hello, Moto Z3: launch seems imminent with event invites for August 2

The Moto Z3 is poised to feature an always-changing design thanks to its Moto Mod add-ons, but the Moto Z series release date appears to be relatively unchanged from year-to-year.

It's going to happen on Thursday August 2, according to a launch event invite sent to TechRadar and other media outlets today. At least, we think it's for the new Moto Z3. Last year's event happened in late July.

All we know is that this year's event will happen at 2PM CDT (4pm EDT, 1pm PDT, 9pm BST) that day in Motorola's home city, Chicago, and it'll take place at the company's famed downtown headquarters.

You can view the 'Hello Chicago: August 2' YouTube teaser video below. So far, we see no hints about the device, or anything that points to Moto Z3.

The video description simply says: "Mark your calendar. On August 2, we’re making a big announcement at Motorola’s HQ in Chicago. Say 'hello' to a whole new way to connect, stream, download, video chat, and more. Are you ready?"

TechRadar will be there covering the launch event in person. It's time to break out the Moto Z3 rumors and prepare for the next-generation of Moto Mods.

Why Moto Z3 may be a big deal

This is the first big Moto flagship phone launch event to happen in Chicago since we covered the Moto X 2014 in... 2014. Motorola is putting weight behind the Moto Z3.

It's opening up its headquarters to media outlets, just like it did when it launched the 2nd Gen Moto X and the original Moto 360 smartwatch four years ago. If there's ever a chance that Motorola will make a big splash in 2018, this is it.

There are no rumors about a Moto smartwatch running Google's Wear OS software. Motorola could make news with more than one phone announcement. We're also waiting on Moto One Power and a better Moto X4 sequel (maybe the Moto X5?) to be revealed.

We're expecting the Moto Z3 to make some significant changes to the Z series, too. The last two versions of the phone, Moto Z2 Force and Moto Z and Moto Z Force, haven't changed very much in terms of design. We're at the vert least due for an all-screen display that keeps up with the times, just we've seen on the Moto Z3 Play, which was announced last month.

The fact that we're anticipating a big refresh and a launch event at Motorola's headquarters is only good news for people holding out for the Moto Z3.