Motorola has had a surprise launch of its Moto G8 Power Lite handset that packs a 5,000mAh battery at a bargain price of £149.99 (around $184 / AU$305). That means the Moto G8 Power Lite is poised to be an even more affordable version of the Moto G8 Power (known as the Moto G Power in the US) that was revealed earlier this year, keeping its 5,000mAh battery but leaving off some of the more refined features and specs to come in at nearly half the price.What does that mean? The G8 Power Lite has a MediaTek Helio P35 Quad-Core chipset, a lower-resolution 6.5-inch HD+ (1600 x 720) display, and crucially, packs Android 9 out of the box.

It’s unclear if or when it will upgrade to the current standard Android 10 (and what comes with the G8 Power).As for cameras, the G8 Power Lite keeps its sibling’s 16MP f/2.0 main and 2MP macro lenses, but loses the ultra-wide lens in favor of a 2MP depth sensor.

It’s unfortunate, and we’re curious to see how useful folks find the remaining macro lens for up-close photography.Phone announcements have been delayed in 2020 due to the spread of coronavirus: many were set to be unveiled at MWC 2020, but when that was canceled out of concern for the outbreak, plenty of phonemakers have slowly begun to launch their handsets anyway – even if revealing them online has been far less flashy than the physical events that companies typically hold.The G8 Power was one of the first to be shown off this way, so it’s only fitting that its more limited sibling also gets revealed online with little fanfare.

Regardless, it’s a symbol that phones in 2020 will continue to come out on an atypical schedule as companies adjust to the new normal.