Motorola Mobility LLC, marketed as Motorola (stylized in all-lowercase as motorola), is a Chinese-owned, United States-based consumer electronics manufacturer primarily producing smartphones and other mobile devices running Android. Motorola is headquartered at Merchandise Mart in Chicago, Illinois, and has been a subsidiary of Lenovo since 2014.[4][5][6]
Motorola Mobility was formed on January 4, 2011, after a split of the original Motorola Inc. into two separate companies, with Motorola Mobility assuming the company's consumer-oriented product lines, including its mobile phone business, as well as its cable modems and pay television set-top boxes, while the enterprise and radio communication division continues as Motorola Solutions, a legal successor of the original company. In May 2012, Google acquired Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion; the main intent of the purchase was to gain Motorola Mobility's patent portfolio, in order to protect other Android vendors from litigation.[7] Shortly after the purchase, Google sold Motorola Mobility's cable modem and set-top box business to Arris Group, and products increasingly focused on entry-level smartphones. Under the ATAP division, Google also began development on Project Ara. In October 2014, Google sold Motorola Mobility for $2.91 billion to Lenovo, which excluded ATAP and most of the patents.[8] Lenovo's existing smartphone division was subsumed by Motorola Mobility.[9]
The company currently sells a range of smartphones, mainly consisting of the high-end Edge series, the Razr series of foldables, the Moto G series, as well as a number of other series and products depending on region, all running a near-stock version of Android, which is later branded as "MyUX" and "Hello UI". As of 2025, its current flagship device is the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra.[10][11]
History
On January 4, 2011, Motorola, Inc. was split into two publicly traded companies; Motorola Solutions took on the company's enterprise-oriented business units, while the remaining mostly consumer divisions were taken on by Motorola Mobility.[12] The previous Motorola had been a pioneer in the development of cellular phones. After the major success of RAZR V3, the company was unable to keep up and quickly lost market share to rivals such as Nokia and Samsung, leading to major financial losses that culminated in the company's split.[13] Legally, the split was structured so that Motorola Inc. changed its name to Motorola Solutions and spun off Motorola Mobility as a new publicly traded company.
2011–2012: Independent
Motorola Mobility originally consisted of the mobile devices business, which produced smartphones, mobile accessories including Bluetooth headphones, and the home business, which produced
Products
Razr
Motorola Mobility's predecessor Motorola, Inc. released the Razr V3 in the third quarter of 2004.[61] Because of its striking appearance and thin profile, it was initially marketed as an exclusive fashion phone,[62] but within a year, its price was lowered and it was wildly successful, selling over 50 million units by July 2006.[63] Over the Razr four-year run, Motorola sold more than 130 million units, becoming the bestselling clamshell phone in the world.
Motorola released other phones based on the Razr design as part of the 4LTR line. These include the Pebl U6, Slvr L6, Slvr L7 (more expensive variant of Slvr L6), Razr V3c (CDMA), Razr V3i (with upgraded camera and appearance and iTunes syncing for 100 songs), V3x (supports 3G technology and has a 2-megapixel camera), Razr V3xx
Brand licensing
The company has licensed its brand through the years to several companies and a variety of home products and mobile phone accessories have been released. Motorola Mobility created a dedicated "Motorola Home" website for these products,[123] which sells corded and cordless phones, cable modems and routers, baby monitors, home monitoring systems and pet safety systems. In 2015, Motorola Mobility sold its brand rights for accessories to Binatone, which already was the official licensee for certain home products. This deal includes brand rights for all mobile and car accessories under the Motorola brand.[124]
In 2016, Zoom Telephonics was granted the worldwide brand rights for home networking products, including cable modems, routers, Wi-Fi range extenders and related networking products.[125]
In March 2026, Motorola Mobility launched a partnership with GrapheneOS to support the hardened OS on their phones.[126]
Sponsorship
Since 2021 Motorola is the main sponsor of the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA From 2022, Motorola was the main kit sponsor of Italian football club AC Monza.
The Athletic reported on August 1st, 2024, Motorola signed a multiyear long deal with the Chicago Cubs to have their logo placed on a uniform patch. The deal also made Motorola the "official smartphone" brand for the team.[128]
In September 2024, Motorola became the global smartphone partner of Formula 1 from 2025 onwards,[129] and in the following month Motorola also has inked the same deal with FIFA.[130] Both were made as a part of Lenovo's partnership with Formula 1 and FIFA.
Controversies
In December 2024 [131] [132], a class-action lawsuit alleging that Motorola Mobility LLC was still permitting third party cookies to track users that selected "Reject All non-essential cookies" button on the banner of Motorola's website. Third party tracking cookies included Google, Amazon (company), and Tiktok.
See also
- iDEN
- WiDEN
- List of electronics brands
- List of Motorola products
- List of Illinois companies
- Motorola Moto
- Motorola Solutions
External links
References
- SEC 10-Q filing from October 1, 2011 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1495569/000119312511284248/d244717d10q.htm^
- Executive Team Motorola.com, retrieved 24 April 2022^
- Motorola Mobility (a Lenovo company) LinkedIn^