Make in India: Motorola planning manufacturing facility in India

Motorola, maker of Moto G handset, is evaluating options to set up a manufacturing facility in India to cash in on the burgeoning demand for smartphones in the country. “Evaluation is going on… We will have news soon,” Motorola Senior Marketing Director Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific Marcus Frost told PTI when asked whether the company is considering setting up a production unit in India. He declined however to disclose further details and timeline for the same. Motorola makes devices in China and Latin America. It had a plant in Chennai, which was shut down a few years ago. Motorola joins a growing list of global smartphone makers, including Xiaomi and Gionee that are considering manufacturing in India, where the government is pushing its ‘Make in India’ initiative. India is one the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. According to research firm CMR, 19.5 million smartphones were shipped in India in the March 2015 quarter. Frost said India is a huge market for the company and it has seen strong sales of its devices, especially Moto G. Motorola, which had sold over three million units in the country till last year, unveiled the third generation of its popular **Moto G** for Rs 11,999 (8GB) and Rs 12,999 (16GB). The water-resistant device features a 5-inch display, 2,470 mAh battery, 13MP rear and 5MP front camera, 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and supports 4G LTE. The 8GB version comes with 1GB RAM, while the 16GB version is equipped with 2GB RAM. “At Motorola, we believe everyone deserves the choice of a better mobile relationship. One that is personal, fulfilling and stands the test of time at a budget that fits your pocket,” Motorola India General Manager Amit Boni said. The company has also launched new **Moto X** variants - the Moto X Play and the Moto X Style. While the Moto X Play will start selling from August and the Moto X Style will start selling from September. The Moto X Style features a 5.7-inch QuadHD display offering a 515ppi pixel density. The phone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC with a 1.8GHz hexa-core processor paired with 3GB of RAM. It will come with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop on board with Motorola’s proprietary features such as Moto Voice, Moto Assist, Moto Display, Moto Actions and so on. The Moto X Play will come with a 5.5-inch full HD display thereby giving it a pixel density of 400 ppi. Moto X Play will come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC featuring a 1.7GHz octa-core processor paired with 2GB of RAM. Just like the Moto X Style, this will also feature 4G LTE support, Android 5.1.1 with the same Motorola software features, 21MP rear and 5MP front facing camera. With inputs from PTI