Google reportedly working on X phone to take on Apple and Samsung

With the Google acquisition of Motorola, it appears that the brand is aiming to build a sophisticated new smartphone that is scheduled to be launched next year; it is currently dubbed the X phone. A report by The Wall Street Journal states citing sources that after acquiring Motorola seven months ago for 12.5 billion, Google is in the process of designing a high-end handset with state of the art features that will stand apart from existing smartphones.

The report notes, “Engineers at Motorola are hard at work on a sophisticated handset—known internally as the “X phone”—but the Google Inc. unit is running into some obstacles in its effort to provide more potent competition for Apple Inc., said people familiar with the matter.”

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Google and Motorola join forces to make a high-end smartphone

The report notes that this handset will be designed to take on the offerings from Apple and Samsung. Apart from this, the report also notes that Google and Motorola will also be building an X tablet after the handset.

Google decided to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion after Motorola reported quarter 2 losses of $56 million for 2011. At the time, Google CEO, Larry Page had said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

This transaction had been unanimously approved by both companies. Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said at the time, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

With the acquisition of Motorola, Google can now combine hardware as well as software much akin to the likes of Apple’s iOS. According to Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, “We expect that this combination (with Motorola) will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

This will be the first device that Google will build with Motorola since it took over the company.