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Lenovo Lays Off a Chunk of Its Motorola Smartphone Team

Posted by BeauHD on from the all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end dept.

On Friday, Lenovo confirmed layoffs for the Motorola group in Chicago, where the company designs its modular Moto Z smartphones. "In a statement to 9to5Google, Lenovo denied that it was axing 50% of the workforce, as the site had suggested, but didn't provide any further specifics," reports Fast Company. Android Police now reports that 190 people were laid off. A separate report of theirs claims that the company has "completely abandoned plans to launch the successor to last year's Moto X4, the as-yet unannounced Moto X5." Furthermore, "Motorola will be narrowing its focus back to E, G, and Z phones for the time being," reports Android Police. "It's possible the Moto X name could return at some point, but that's looking unlikely in light of this news." The source also says Motorola will be largely discontinuing its efforts to develop all-new, eccentric MotoMods for its Z phone. The likelihood that MotoMods will continue to be sold after 2019 is looking very slim.

48 comments

  1. Beaten by generic phones by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2

    I have a generic android phone which I bought online from shanghai. I paid about half the cost of a Motorola in the shop. Its no wonder the big brands are scaling back production.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:Beaten by generic phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If cost were the only consideration for a phone, generics would be the bulk of the market. As it is, people still don't want to buy terrible pieces of shit (amazing that still holds true somewhere), so the majority steer clear of generics and Motorola.

    2. Re:Beaten by generic phones by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Does it work in the US on Verizon?

    3. Re:Beaten by generic phones by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      I don't know. I am in Australia and I have no complaints. It supports a wide range of 3G and 4G frequencies. I bought it from gearbest.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    4. Re: Beaten by generic phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's made in China no matter what brand you buy. The only difference is that you pay five times as much to some middleman.
      But whatever, your own post already established that you aren't the brightest tool in the canoe.

    5. Re:Beaten by generic phones by tripleevenfall · · Score: 2

      I don't know why Motorola thought people, in this age of consolidation of devices and all-in-one devices, were going to buy these "moto mods".

      People don't want to wrangle a bunch of attachments. Look at the hubub over Apple's headphone adapter.

      The mods themselves:
      -A projector? Who is going to use that? Business people are going to have access to better projectors and use a PC. Regular people have no problem using a TV or holding the phone.
      -An improved camera? Ok, but obviously the cameras most companies embed in the phone is more than good enough for most people's purposes, since 99% of all photos are taken as snapshots, and DSLR is out there if you are a photo hobbyist.
      -An external speaker? Yeah, I can keep one of those on my desk anywhere, they're cheap and don't draw power from the phone, or make the phone more bulky, and for most people the included speakers are usually fine or they're using headphones.
      -Add Alexa to the phone? Why can't that just be an app?

      The other ones are a "shell" otherwise known as a "phone case" and better batteries. Hey, how about you just put a great battery in the phone to begin with?

      The whole idea is just stupid and it's no surprise people aren't lining up to dole out up to $300 for these things.

  2. Chinese layoffs? Of Chinese? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's unamerican!

  3. E and G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Phones like the Moto G series are low-priced, non-bloated, and great alternatives to flagship phones for a LOT of people... Maybe a greater company focus on this line would help them work out a few of the kinks and make them more successful.

    1. Re:E and G by r1348 · · Score: 1

      Used to.
      I bought my wife a Moto G5S Plus, and it came with Outlook and LinkedIn pre-installed.
      And it's still waiting for the promised Oreo update.

    2. Re:E and G by benf_2004 · · Score: 1

      I bought a Moto G5S Plus directly from Motorola last month and it did not have any bloatware installed. It's possible that they were installing junk and stopped doing it, but my guess is that middlemen are to blame.

    3. Re:E and G by r1348 · · Score: 1

      I know that there are several firmware versions out there, mine in particular is the retail EU version, bought off Amazon.

  4. And nothing of value was lost... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The source also says Motorola will be largely discontinuing its efforts to develop all-new, eccentric MotoMods for its Z phone. The likelihood that MotoMods will continue to be sold after 2019 is looking very slim.

    And no one but an idiot wouldn’t have foreseen this. Don’t buy proprietary connectors and “mods” unless you’re an iFag. At least Apple will keep their proprietary shit around longer than a couple of years.

  5. The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One of them was a was a 854x480 projector. It'd be better to cast the phone's screen to a Chromecast.

    Another is a $200 digital camera add-on (with optical zoom). No, I don't understand the point of it.

    Yet another is a game controller add-on. I still don't know who seriously games on a phone.

    1. Re: The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The battery mod is pretty useful. It maintains the phone at 80% SOC using the mod. Between the phone and the mod you have a 4 - 6 day battery life without plugging in. Remember when phones could go multiple days on a single charge? I haven't seen this in a decade.

    2. Re:The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by demon+driver · · Score: 2

      One of the greatest mods just came out, the "Livermorium Slider Keyboard Mod", that's a real keyboard for the Moto Z, and I can't wait to get mine. If you use the phone to write real texts, or remotely administer servers or PCs, or do some of the many other things which get hampered by a virtual keyboard overlaying a large part of the screen, the physical keyboard is a must.

      a 854x480 projector. It'd be better to cast the phone's screen to a Chromecast

      Two completely different use cases. You use a projector where you don't have a big screen.

      a $200 digital camera add-on (with optical zoom)

      Yes, the "Hasselblad true zoom", while Hasselblad of course did not do anything except giving their name, is a 10x zoom add-on for a smartphone, and its image quality is quite decent, too. It's for people who want something much more versatile than a usual smartphone camera, something they can always take along with their smartphone, while they don't want to carry a whole extra camera all the time. Plus it is very well built, handles well and seems to be very durable, too.

      a game controller add-on. I still don't know who seriously games on a phone

      There are millions of people who do not take games too seriously and therefore play on smartphones – quite a lot of them still might want to use a game controller. Why shouldn't they?

      And then there are other mods – several battery-pack add-ons to choose from which don't make the phone too bulky, or really good speakers to clip on (one's from JBL, if I remember correctly).

      Even if it's a proprietary connector that, in a sensibly organized world, would have been designed open and for anyone else to use, too, it was a good idea that makes the Moto Z phones some of the most interesting and attractive phones to date, IMHO.

    3. Re:The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by iampiti · · Score: 1

      I'm learning about this just now and I think it's a great idea. I wish this phone had been more popular and they would continue to develop these expansions.
      I currently own an LG G5 so it's not surprising I like this :)

    4. Re:The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by Junta · · Score: 1

      I have the projector, it's a fun low quality video things in certain scenarios. However, I would not have paid the exorbitant price for it.

      I did try the camera, but don't have it. It costs too much and the inability to do 4k recording seems a curious limitation. For the price you can get a dedicated camera. If it cost $99 and did 4k, I would think it a good value for people who want a decent phone camera.

      I don't have an opinion of the game controller. I've always hated games on the platform because they have to cater to touch, and the presence of game controllers is not ubiquitous enough to drive game design.

      There's also the "Vital" mod, which is pretty stupid. Lot of awkwardness due to the form factor, and utterly pointless compared to wireless trackers.

      The speaker mods seem relatively sane, relatively cheap and easier than a bluetooth speaker, but the bluetooth speakers are hard to compete with there.

      The physical keyboard mod might be nice for some. After initially thinking I'd want a physical keyboard and starting my smartphone situation with a hardware keyboard and then moving to touchscreen, I realized there was no way a keyboard that small would work well for me, and the touchscnreen swype typing was better for how I used the phone.

      Batteries and the vehicle dock are the biggest slam dunks. Swappable battery is now easier than even current 'swappable batteries' (no cover to remove). The vehicle dock could do with more varied mount install options, but the concept is pretty good. I wish for a non-vehicle mount for my nightstand, the benefits of wireless chargin (much easier connect/disconnect) but with the charge speed that comes with actual metal pin to metal pin contact.

      If the android OS were more sutied for desktop, I'd like a more full fledged docking station.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    5. Re:The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by Junta · · Score: 1

      On the keyboard, personally my experience is that the form factor can't allow for anything but thumbs, and using only my thumbs on a physical keyboard will continue to frustrate. The limitations also force really awkward access to many of the shell significant strokes, the on screen keyboard of JuiceSSH or similar provides more relevant key strokes. Maybe others have better experiences, but foor me the 'gesture typing' in a touchscreen offsets the form factor, though useless for ssh and such.

      One example for the projector, lying in bed and projecting onto the ceiling. It'd be *nice* if it were higher res, but for most video it's not noticable. The low lumens is a bigger factor holding back quality. It is however nice for celiling projection.

      The biggest flaws with the camera mod are the limited video resolution (no 4k) and the fact that you can buy point and shoot camera for about that much that are better. Being a phone mod doesn't really help that much for cost savings or convenience (it's bulky enough to make it an unpleasant experience).

      Batteries, docks, the VR headest allegedly coming out, those are interesting to me. I have a daydream headset for my phone and it's already pretty solid. I'd love the more precise fit of the mod connection, and the camera being exposed may open up opportunites.

      I'm really hoping that the alleged Z3 with the more sleek and modern look will make it enough of a market success to bring sanity to the mod ecosystem in terms of selection and pricing. I also hope they do a btter jobs than the Z2 shattershield with respect to things like a peeling screen. All that said, I really do enjoy my Z2 force.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    6. Re: The Moto Mods are kind of dumb. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aside from the battery linkage, why aren't all of these better as standalone Bluetooth devices? That way I don't have to throw out my $200 zoom camera if I decide to get a better phone?

      Typing this from an X-line Motorola with Lineage 14.1 which is the best combo I've owned, so this isn't anything against Motorola.

  6. Because a modular phone is stupid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All the convenience of carrying multiple devices with the hassle of having to plug them together.

    1. Re:Because a modular phone is stupid. by Junta · · Score: 1

      Note that they did a really good jobs in motorola of convenience of 'plugging' them together.

      No removing covers, very good magnetic guiding, a connector that is very robust and forgiving. you basically do just slap them together.

      Also, while some mods (the 'vital' and the camera come to mind) are physically awkward enough that you'd only want to attach on demand, most other mods can just sit there and not be much of a detriment (the battery mods, obviously the case mods, even the projector mod is sleek enough to not be too notciable in the hand, despite it's relative bulk).

      The moto z vehicle dock has been a fantastic improvement for vehicle use. I get the phone in the general vicinity and it snaps itself into place and gets charging. Previously physically mourning my phone meant carefully holding it in the right position and then triggering the utterly generic snapping mechnism to hold the phone, being careful not to hit the volume or power buttons. Sure, I don't *need* to so constantly charge, but so long as it's essentially a 'free' action, I figure why not.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  7. Ceeya! by amiga3D · · Score: 0

    Goodbye Moto! I remember the head of Motorola years ago saying if you wanted to root a phone buy a phone from someone else. I followed his advice as did a lot of other people. Always good to see arrogant asses fail.

    1. Re: Ceeya! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Motorola let you root any of their phones. They have a part of their website that gives you an unlock code. Been that way for at least 3 years. Probably more.

    2. Re:Ceeya! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Goodbye Moto!

      Do you have any idea how many times we have heard "This is the end of Motorola!" over the past decades?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:Ceeya! by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 2

      Goodbye Moto!

      Do you have any idea how many times we have heard "This is the end of Motorola!" over the past decades?

      And in each case it has turned to be true (I used to work at Moto, so many of my ex-coworkers, all of us nomads that have moved to other pastures many moons ago).

      Each time, the once great company morphed itself into an emptier and emptier shelf of its former shelf, daftly re-living the "Groundhog Day" version of Zenos's Paradox.

    4. Re: Ceeya! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Motorola are also one of the few phones (maybe the only) to use a decent charging design that allows the phone to run without a battery in it. Useful on its own but this also means that the battery is not continuously charging/discharging the battery (causing wear) when using the phone while it's connected to a charger.

    5. Re:Ceeya! by dsgrntlxmply · · Score: 2

      I left Motorola in 2006 (along with around 200 others) as a business unit was dismantled.

      In its last years as a shrinking husk of an grand old-school company with a real research operation, I was able to get maybe 5 PhD signal processing / RF specialists from Motorola Research in the Chicago area, assigned for a few weeks to work on an interesting little project. I got a proof of concept, and they got a proof of capability for specific direct digital synthesis and up/down conversion techniques that were in development and looking for applications.

      I had to lobby hard to travel to Bangalore in my last few weeks there, to transfer engineering knowledge to an outsource group, many of whose members were unable to obtain US visas in good time. Apart from a couple of weeks of intestinal distress afterward, that was a very informative life experience.

      By the time I had my exit interview, the building was locked, and I was probably still at home within sprinting distance of the toilet. I did the exit interview from mailed paperwork, talking to an HR person at another site. She was so depressed and exhausted from doing this for the other 199 or so, that I had to walk her through the process.

      I did a search the other day and found, amusingly, that my patents are now owned by Google (from whom I have never worked).

      We need to go beyond Groundhog Day, and draw from Office Space, Falling Down, and from the old Twilight Zone TV series.

    6. Re: Ceeya! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Motorola let you root any of their phones. They have a part of their website that gives you an unlock code. Been that way for at least 3 years. Probably more.

      Yes they let you root your phone, but they also require you to agree to have your full warranty voided (something I am pretty sure is illegal).

  8. Because they do no support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Motorola / Lenovo has THE worst support for their phones. Literally they only release monthly security updates every 3 or 4 months... and by the time they release it the security updates are always a month or two old. I emailed them to ask why.. .their answer? They rely on their "partners" (read, telecom providers) to do the updates.... huh, welcome to 1998.

    1. Re:Because they do no support by ebrandsberg · · Score: 1

      The Moto X4 under the Android One banner has certain requirements to use that branding, including monthly updates. While a few months for the updates to start coming, they seem to be getting them out more regularly now. The phone is also under non-Android One branding, but it appears that those phones are receiving some of the benefits of having an AO software release as well.

    2. Re:Because they do no support by q_e_t · · Score: 1

      I'm tempted to install vanilla Android on my Moto, even given the small bricking risk.

  9. Bummer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have the z2 force. I absolutely adore it. My battery mod makes my phone have 2-4 day battery life depending on how often I am on it, and the controller mod is absolutely amazing with mupen64 and other emulators. I better snatch up some mods while I can.

  10. LOL Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And recently, Google bought HTC for Android phone engineers.

  11. Nice phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Moto has best bang-for-the-buck phones right now. Their G series is really something.

    Its really too bad that non-Chinese companies do not release something similar: reasonable performance for reasonable price.

    1. Re:Nice phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Moto has best bang-for-the-buck phones right now. Their G series is really something.

      Xiaomi would like to have a word with you.

    2. Re:Nice phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends on what you want your phone to do. Moto G5(s) Plus (currently at 190 euro) takes much better photos and videos than other budget phones. I don't think Xiaomi or the other Chinese brands do good quality 60fps FHD videos on their budget phones.
      I could care less about the Moto Z, but I've bought at least 5 moto Gs of different generations for myself and the extended family. I've had 0 issues in total.

  12. Being laid off by No+Longer+an+AC · · Score: 1

    When I got laid off they didn't even call me a "chunk". They didn't even call me "dead-weight" either.

    But I'm not bitter or anything. To be honest I was actually relieved.......until I realized I wasn't getting paid anymore. But then I thought about it. Was it worth it to sell my soul?

    And I said "No" and realized there was still money in the banana stand....bank.....funds...whatever... even in the sofa cushions.

    The work-life balance is definitely better now. Before it was all work and no life. Now it's all life and no work.

    It makes me wonder if a balance could be struck between those things.

    1. Re:Being laid off by iampiti · · Score: 1

      Sell your soul? Do you mean you were working long hours or something else?

  13. All those engineer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are free to start competing. Google was stupid to sell their stake in Motorola.

  14. Best things fail by demon+driver · · Score: 1

    It's always the same – the best things go away, because either they can't be produced to bring their companies enough profit; sometimes they fail because –
    like the Moto Z Mod system – they get designed proprietary and thereby limiting the attractiveness and the wish for people or companies to design something for that system; or the company makes mistakes in marketing and promotion...

    Capitalism is not about the best things winning in competition, it's about being able to sell the cheapest things for the highest possible price.

    1. Re:Best things fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Capitalism is not about the best things winning in competition, it's about being able to sell the cheapest things for the highest possible price.

      That is why you need competition.
      And I am not talking about the fake "Oh, look, there are three brands with comparable products" kind of competition.
      With 100+ competitors the companies will be happy with breaking even. Profitable at all will then be the thing keeping them afloat, but no-one will really get rich on it.

      If you can name all the alternatives from memory then so can they, and then they will take their part of the market and not rock the ship.
      For capitalism to work as intended you need more alternatives than you can name, otherwise you can not take you business elsewhere without running out of them.

  15. Nooo ... by CptJeanLuc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Oh man, I hope this doesn't mark the end of the current lineup of Motorola phones. I don't want to have to go on yet another goose chase after a decent and yet affordable phone. I currently own a Moto G, and it has the benefit of not being outrageously expensive, works "well enough" for everyday use while lasting minimum one day on a single charge, it is not iPhone as I do not want to be locked in with the Apple eco-system (not an Apple-hater, I am writing this on my Macbook Air), and very important to me - after a truly sh##y experience with resource-hogging and annoying proprietary setup of my first Samsung smartphone, I want _the vanilla Android experience_!!! As few "customizations" as possible, and with some reasonably new version of Android. And so far, the latest iteration of the Moto G (I had the last one, which turned out to be underspecced and have some battery problems - not so with the latest one at least yet) has really been the only phone to deliver on all of these.

    And probably there also goes my dream of the anticipated Lenovo tablet, which I was hoping would do all these things in tablet format. After giving up on my NVidia Shield Tablet primarily due to extremely poor battery life, I have been looking for a vanilla Android tablet that is reasonably priced - and there were announcements I think spring 2017 that there would "soon" be a new tablet from Lenovo that I thought would deliver on all the above metrics, which still has not emerged. And now I am guessing the whole thing will get canned.

    Bah ... why must it be so difficult to find reasonably priced hardware that actually works without a lot of annoying customizations designed to lock you in with the ecosystem of some particular vendor.

    1. Re:Nooo ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I work for Lenovo in NC and know some people testing the next phones. There's no sign of the product stopping. I do not know the situation in Chicago, but the company at least continues to be wanting to move forward. Time will tell if their cuts were too deep to continue or not. The next models of phones are more or less done, so this coming product launch won't be enough to tell if they axed a critical mass of engineering talent this time. Cuts to hardware engineering wouldn't be felt by the market until 2019 in theory.

    2. Re:Nooo ... by sombragris · · Score: 1

      Totally agree. I own a Moto G Play and I plan to purchase another Moto G when the time to change this device comes. Great devices and no crapware.

      --
      -- Look to the Rose that blows about us--"Lo, Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow..."
    3. Re:Nooo ... by chargi · · Score: 1

      love my moto g play. rooted, unlocked. at least 10 roms backed up on a 200 gig sd card. only one has gapps on it to get and extract apps.
          just for the fun of it. nougat and oreo.

  16. Smartphone has peaked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you think about it the smartphone was doomed like the PC to reach peak saturation and little reason for current owners to upgrade frequently. The rest is purely about a lack of some in the world to afford such expensive smartphones or their respective plans for service.

  17. Here's the issue: by MtViewGuy · · Score: 1

    The major cellphone carriers around the world are too tied to deals with Apple and Samsung, which often hurts smaller cellphone companies like Lenovo's Motorola division and HTC.

    I think by international laws, you have to buy the cellphone "unlocked" and then have the carrier activate it. That will guarantee that the likes of Apple and Samsung won't charge ridiculous amounts for their high-end phones and will mean a you can choose your own phone.