Lenovo will concentrate on its Motorola brand for its smartphone, and target mature markets. The company has specified this as it declared its results for the Financial Year 2016-2017. Lenovo said its Moto Z smartphone, which is a high-end device, is about to hit 3 million shipments and the Moto G series has also performed strongly.
Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing was quoted as saying during the investor call that the company had seen strong progression in markets like Brazil and India. In India, Lenovo claims that the volume has grown by 36 percent per year. They were also advancing well in Western Europe markets like Britain, Germany France.
However, Lenovo’s smartphone business is still writhing in China, and the company confessed it will reorganize, and rebuild a stronger team for the market.
“Our strategy is to prioritise mature markets … which need brands and innovative products, whereas emerging markets need efficiency,” said Yang in a press conference, according to Reuters. He also pointed out Lenovo will have “two teams catering to the two kinds of markets with different product lines.”
The Reuters report also quotes a Lenovo spokesperson as stating that as part of the global mobile strategy, the company is focusing attention to the Motorola brand. Presently it has Motorola, Zuk phones and the budget Lenovo phones, which have been quite well-liked in India. But it appears that Motorola could become the defining brand for smartphones from the company.
The emphasis on Motorola brand is not surprising. This year itself, we’ve seen the Motorola brand expand into Moto C, which is the most economical version, along with the usual Moto G. Motorola is also anticipated to launch Moto Z2 Play, Moto X smartphone, along with the imminent Moto E and Moto E Plus smartphones.
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The latest report puts doubts over the future of the ZUK smartphone line, which is being sold in China and India.As seen in Lenovo’s results, the company has seen solid progress in Latin American markets, especially Brazil, but China is still an area of struggle.
Interestingly Motorola brand is also believed to be working on a Moto G5S series, which may have a front camera flash and a dual rear camera option as well. Several images of the phones have been revealed in the past.
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For Lenovo, concentrating on Motorola as the smartphone brand may be advisable as the phones are doing well, both in Latin America, India and the Western Europe markets.