It’s not surprising news to anybody following the tech beat that Motorola hasn’t been doing well in terms of its smartphone sales, especially after being bought out by Lenovo. If reports are to be believed, things are coming to a head as the company has reportedly laid off half of its Chicago office. There are even reports that they will be cancelling the production and launch of the unannounced but heavily leaked Moto X5. Both rumors are indications of just how much trouble the company is in right now.
While Motorola confirmed that they were laying off employees in their Chicago office, they denied that it would affect half of the workforce and assured customers that this is part of Lenovo’s worldwide resource action that should affect “less than two percent of its global workforce.” But other reports, including an ex-employee, are saying that half of their Chicago workforce were told they only had until April 6 with the company.
Meanwhile, the other news going around is that the Moto X5 will not be launched anymore and instead, the company will be focusing on its efforts on the E, G, and Z phones which are of course the entry to mid level devices that may appeal to those who are looking for budget devices. As for the Moto Mods, they will also be focusing on the battery packs and style modes which are the ones bringing in sales.
Motorola is not alone in having troubles with their smartphone divisions. Anyone that’s not Samsung or Apple (or maybe Google) seem to be suffering in this current market status, with people holding on to their current devices longer than usual. Sales have been down and new smartphones seem to be just like the others. Hopefully for these companies, this will just be a phase.
VIA: XDA Developrs, Android Police
