Lenovo Brings Motorola Smartphones Back To China

Less than three months after completing its $2.91 billion acquisition of the phone manufacturer from Google, Lenovo announced today that it will bring back Motorola smartphones to China. Three devices—the Moto X, Moto X Pro, and Moto G with 4G LTE—will go on sale early this year.

Motorola stopped selling phones in China in 2013 while it was owned by Google, due in part to lagging sales as competition from companies including Samsung and Chinese smartphone makers increased.

While Motorola can now tap into the resources of Lenovo, one of China’s leading smartphone makers, it still faces significant challenges.

For one thing, Lenovo’s own sales growth began to stall in the last half of 2014. Motorola-branded devices (and other Lenovo products) all face fierce rivalry from companies like Xiaomi, which has grabbed market share from Lenovo, Samsung and other companies on its way to becoming the world’s third-largest smartphone maker by shipment volume.