NEW DELHI: Mobile manufacturer Motorola, owned by Lenovo, said on Wednesday it is doubling its investment in India to increase its market share as well as to export its devices to other countries.
Ruben Castano, head of customer experience at Motorola, said in an interaction that the company did well in the country last year, and India has become one of its strongest growing markets globally.
“We’re increasing local manufacturing capacity in India. The local manufacturing is also helping us to serve other markets outside of India. However, we can’t share the investment number. We’re also investing quite heavily in terms of marketing and expanding the channels both online and offline,” said Castano.
When asked about the exports to other countries, Motorala said it primarily exports to the US market from India. It exported more than a million smartphones from India in 2023, and nearly 20–25% to the US. “All the smartphones of Motorola sold in India are made in India,” said Castano.
Currently, Dixon is the contract manufacturer for Motorola in India. However, when it comes to exports, Apple and Samsung dominate Indian smartphone market. As per Counterpoint Research, India’s mobile market is grabbed by Xioami, Vivo, Samsung, Realme, and Oppo in CY23. However, brands like Apple, Google, or Motorola fall short in others categories. As per the report, other brands that grew in 2023 were Google (111%), Lava (36%), and Motorola (13%).
On being asked about the usage of AI technology, Castano called it fantastic technology. He said it is not a trend but a future for the mobile industry and for many other industries. “Our view on AI as it is with all our devices is to take AI and not treat it as technology for technology’s sake, but make it something useful for the consumer,” said Castano.
Motorola plans to collaborate with other firms to integrate its devices with AI. Castano said the company thought about it. “We have, of course, thought about it. We, as a company, have embraced partnerships with open arms, whether it’s audio with Bose or fashion and lifestyle with Pantaloon or so. We announced our partnership with Corning at the MWC (Mobile World Congress), and all our devices will come with Corning Gorilla Glass. Yeah, AI is no different,” said Castano.