Motorola’s Edge (mid to premium segment) and G series (budget segment) have shown tremendous success in India, said Ruben Castano, Head of Customer Experience, Motorola in an interaction with The Hindu on Wednesday in New Delhi during the global launch of Motorola Edge 50 Pro.
He informed that India has become one of their strongest growing markets, globally, and they are doubling investment here to increase market share as well as to export to other countries.
The Lenovo-owned mobile maker is primarily exporting to United States from India. In 2023, Motorola sent more than a million phones from India out of which nearly 25% went to U.S. It uses Dixon as its major contract manufacturer for smartphones in India.
“We are also increasing our local manufacturing capacity, investing heavily in terms of marketing and expanding the channels in India, both online and offline,” said Castano.
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The legacy brand is simultaneously investing to improve its market share in India, which is being dominated by Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme and Oppo as top five mobile brands. Motorola fits into ‘others’ category with Apple, Google and Lava as they aren’t volume players.
To be among top five smartphone brands, Motorola has set a three-year plan in motion, informed Castano. “By 2026-27, we would aspire to double our current volumes,” he added.
If things stay, as they are today, that would equate to being more or less the number three manufacturer worldwide, Castano claims.
Last year, Motorola launched Razr 40 series, their first foldable phones in India, and Castano told that is also performing extremely well here. He did not share anything about their next generation of foldables though.
For the Motorola E series (entry segment) phones, he said that the company will treat it tactically. “When we see the opportunity, the right combination of hardware and pricing, we might continue with E series.” Their main focus right now is G, Edge and Razr series.
Castano did not share the potential entry price point for a 5G smartphone in India, but said they want to make 5G more affordable to their consumers.
“The transition (from 4G and 5G) is complete in many markets, globally, but there’re a few remaining markets that are still a mix of 4G and 5G. India is quite further down the road in terms of that transition where 5G should be the common place,” Castano said.
“We need to do that replacement of what was an entry level 4G device into into a 5G equivalent without sacrificing areas like the processor, camera, chipset, memory,” he added.
With the launch of Edge 50 Pro, Motorola went a step ahead with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in their smartphones. “We want to make AI useful for the consumer by optimising battery, camera, and even connectivity,” said Castano.
Having said that, Motorola has not done any specific partnership for the integration of AI like Samsung did with Google for its Galaxy S24 series. But, Castano said that they are ready to work with other companies to fully integrate AI into their devices.
“Motorola has embraced partnerships with open arms, whether it’s with Bose for audio, with Pantone for colour validation or with Corning for protecting all our smartphones.”
Motorola’s Pantone validated smartphones | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
On bringing rollable devices to India, he said, “A lot of future intersection points between technology, future form factors and AI are working together.”
We asked if Motorola is looking to enter other verticals like TWS or smartwatch, Castano said, “For us to become a credible player and to reach the goals of doubling our volumes or being number three, worldwide, we do need to embrace a complete ecosystem of devices for consumers, whether it’s on your ear or wrist.”
To develop its own ecosystem, Motorola also relaunched Smart Connect, a single user interface, that connects across tablets, PCS, and smartphones.
On the manufacturing ecosystem in India, Castano thinks it needs to be more favourable. The supply chain should also be more localized without having to import certain key components.
On geopolitics affecting the growth of smartphone industry, Castano said, “We always monitor those things. As a company, we respect local policies.”
Currently, Motorola produces devices in China and Brazil along with India. “We have a very diversified manufacturing footprint and, that gives us an advantage to be flexible in how we bring products to the market,” concluded Castano.
