Dubai: Since the acquisition of Motorola Mobility in 2015, Lenovo has transformed the company’s global mobile footprint from a handful of markets to multiple markets across the world.
Speaking to Gulf News on Wednesday, Sharay Shams, general manager for Mobile Business Group at Lenovo Middle East, said that there will no longer be Lenovo-branded phones and that it will be only Moto brand.
Lenovo launched its mid-tier all-metal Moto G5 at Gitex with a five-inch display (1080 x 1920 pixels) and powered by octa-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor. It sports 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage capacity. The microSD card supports up to 256GB. The primary camera is 13MP and secondary is 5MP. It is priced at Dh699.
Quoting an IDC (International Data Corporation) report, Shams said that Lenovo had 22.4 per cent market share in the UAE in the fourth quarter and is placed second.
“We are quite bullish about our business and the only way to continue the momentum in this market is through innovation as we did in Moto Z modular smartphone and Moto Mods add-ons.
Moto Z has reached 2 million shipments and is on track to reach three million globally in its first 12 months. "We shipped 15 million smartphones last quarter and saw a 20 percent increase in Moto-branded devices," he added.
He said that the Moto brand grew 20 per cent quarter on quarter as of December 2016.
“We also grew almost 16 per cent quarter on quarter outside of China to become number four globally with 4.9 per cent market share. We have clear strategies for each region and are confident in our ability to fine-tune our product portfolio and channel strategy for each market,” he said.
In China, Lenovo was the number 2 smartphone brand at the beginning of 2014, according to data from Gartner. But in just two years, the company has dropped to number 11. Globally, Lenovo was placed number three in 2013, 2014 and 2015 but in 2016 it slipped below the top five.
Competitive product portfolio
The company is facing stiff competition from other Chinese brands such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.
“We’re still in transition in China and are focusing on delivering a more competitive product portfolio and executing our channel expansion. We’re continuing to build our brand in China with premium models and build a solid foundation for future profitable growth. We’ve seen strong shipments of Moto Z and Moto Mods globally,” Shams said.
He added that Lenovo is committed to the Moto Mods platform, but building a new mobile hardware ecosystem takes time and requires multiple strategies for growth, including new partnerships and collaborations with third parties.
“To succeed in the smartphone category, we know we must focus on delivering real innovation and choice to consumers. This year, you will see a more strategic and holistic smartphone portfolio, bringing together the best technology, designs and user experiences.”
