Have you ever wondered where Motorola phones are made, or what country it belongs to? This article details the origins of Motorola and answers the question of if it is a Chinese or American company.
The first mobile phone in the world was made by Motorola and it became a telecommunications giant afterwards. The company was founded over 90 years ago on September 25th, 1928, by Paul and Joseph Galvin. They purchased a bankrupt company called ‘Stewart’s battery’ at auction for just $750. They first designed battery eliminators – devices that allowed battery-operated appliances to run on household electricity. Next, they invented the car radio in 1930 which was initially meant for police cars and then the walkie talkies in 1940 which was very helpful in World War II, and 1956, they invented the first pagers, which were used primarily in hospital environments. Motorola continues to be a company that is driven by innovation.
Apple, Samsung and Nokia may have the recent spotlight in the cellphone market today but in 1983, Motorola introduced the first cell phone. It was called the DynaTac 8000x and over the years they have offered several technological products and more recently associated with their popular cellphone models. Keep reading to find out where Motorola phones are made.
Motorola created the first cell phone with web browsing with the Motorola Eden I 1000. The phone also allowed its users to send messages, listen to the radio and send faxes, which opened the door for other technology companies to explore how to use cell phones in different ways.
From 2007 to 2009, the company lost $4.3 billion because it was hit hard by the worldwide financial crisis. Following these crises the company was restructured into two independent public companies back in 2011, Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, and over time the company has sold pieces of itself to other telecommunications and software companies including Lenovo and Nokia.
Is Motorola a Chinese company?
Motorola is an American multinational telecommunications company with close to 100,000 employees worldwide. So it belongs to an American company. Motorola merged with Google in 2012. Google acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. This sale gave Google the right to 7000 patents and in 2014 Google sold most of the division to Lenovo which is a Chinese company, for $2.91 billion, making it technically a Chinese company. Google maintained ownership of the majority of portfolio patents from Motorola Mobility including patent applications and invention disclosures. Lenovo received a license to these patents and other intellectual property as part of its relationship with Google. Lenovo also received another 2000 patents, including Motorola Mobility’s trademark and brand portfolio assets. Lenovo concluded its purchase of Motorola Mobility in October 2014, from Google.
What country are Motorola phones manufactured in?
Motorola’s Moto X was designed, engineered and built in the US, in a factory in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2014, Motorola announced that it was closing its Texas factory after a year of operations. This happened because Motorola’s Moto X smartphone was not selling enough to keep its operations running. The market was exceptionally tough and this decision led to hundreds being out of jobs. The factory was initially an old Nokia manufacturing plant that was restored to produce 100,000 Motorola Moto X new smartphones per week, but it failed to reach its goal.
However, since it has been sold to Lenovo, a Chinese company, some of its manufacturing still happens in China. Recently, Motorola and Lenovo launched a manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, India. Some of its manufacturing is still done in China.
In 2020, the Moto E and Moto G smartphones, made by Motorola Mobility, were being assessed for local production in India, as its long term contribution to making the country one of its largest global markets. As a result, Motorola has joined the list of smartphone makers like Sony, Xiaomi and Gionee to consider manufacturing locally in India.
In 2013, Motorola shut down its manufacturing plant in Chennai, India, because of its global cost reduction plan programme when Google was its parent company. However, there are rumoured plans to revive this facility as the assets are still lying idle.
Presently, Motorola smartphones are made in China, India and Brazil, and also has a Research and Development global software facility in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Markets in India and China are the only ones where Lenovo and Motorola are sold together, globally the brands are separated into different markets.
Motorola sells its smartphones on Flipkart – a Singaporean eCommerce store that sells electronics and mobile phones in India, and it sold about three million units between February to December in 2019. Moto G and Moto E accounted for the majority of its sales. In India, Motorola holds more than a 3% share of the smartphone market, which is dominated by Micromax and Samsung.