Motorola's VR Headset For Phones Leaks As It Prepares Another Round Of Layoffs

Motorola has been banging out add-ons called "Moto Mods" for its Moto Z phones, such as an enhanced smart speaker with Amazon Alexa integration, a pico projector, and a 360-degree camera. For its next trick, Motorola appears to be launching a virtual reality headset that is akin to Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream View, but most likely built for Daydream VR in Android and marketed as a Moto Mod.

The infamous inside man Evan Blass (otherwise known as @evleaks on Twitter) posted a couple of press renders of the upcoming VR headset and retail packaging. There are no details to go along with the leak, such as specs, pricing information, or a release date. However, one interesting bit is a circular cutout that is visible on the front of the headset. This is likely the outgoing camera to drive augmented reality experiences.
Beyond that, it looks like other available smartphone VR headsets that are on the market. The big question is whether it will support all (or most) Daydream-compatible Android headsets like Google's Daydream View, or only phones from the Moto Z line.

In separate but somewhat related news, there have been rumors of more layoffs at Motorola. The folks at 9To5Google rounded up the various chatter, and if there is any truth behind the rumors, significant layoffs at Motorola Mobility in Chicago will be happening soon. It's said that as much as half of the company's Chicago workforce is affected, with April 6 being their last day on the job.

LIangchen Chen, owner of Keyboard Mod for the Moto Z family, hinted at this a short while back. In response to an Indiegogo backer asking if Motorola was going to dump the Moto Z line, he responded, "To be honest, it looks even worse than that..." He also alluded to "shocking news" that was not able to speak about publicly, other than to say the "Z team in Moto was irreversibly impacted."