If you step right into a retailer and ask for a Motorola smartphone, it’s simple to tell apart the machine from different telephones available on the market. It’s vibrant, encompasses a vegan leather-based again, and the AI options mix seamlessly into the person interface. The deal with bringing extra enjoyable and personalisation to the lineup, together with the consistency and coherence throughout merchandise, is a part of a brand new technique that Motorola has applied — and is now seeing the rewards.
Whereas color experimentation and new finishes are nothing new for Motorola, there’s a transparent throwback to the early 2000s, with a daring slate of enjoyable colors making a comeback at a time when most smartphones look chilly and utilitarian, dominated by house gray and silver aluminium our bodies.
“I can inform you as a proven fact that over the previous two years, 65 per cent of the telephones we bought weren’t black or gray. We now have grown in quantity, and 65 per cent of that development got here from telephones in colors aside from black, gray, or white — the normal colors that usually dominate the market. So for us, it’s working, and I imagine it’s working as a result of we’ve got the suitable technique and the suitable associate,” Ruben Castano, Vice President, Design, Model & CX, Motorola Mobility, instructed indianexpress.com in an interview on the sidelines of the launch of Motorola Edge 60 Professional in India.
‘We take color very significantly’
Castano emphasised that it’s not nearly launching a telephone in any color, however about selecting the best color shades. Motorola works carefully with Pantone, the corporate behind the universal-standard in color language for over 60 years, to pick the colors for its units. “We aren’t taking part in round with colors — we take color very significantly. We now have a worldwide, multi-year unique settlement with Pantone. Our opponents can put as many colors as they need on their units — or none in any respect — but it surely’s about selecting the best colors,” he stated.
Castano stated Motorola and Pantone work carefully on deciding on colors, and the selection of colors relies upon largely on what works greatest on smartphones. He stated Pantone has a worldwide community of specialists throughout many alternative industries and understands social, cultural, macro, and micro tendencies very properly.
Castano is seen with the Motorola Edge 60 Professional, which has a devoted “AI key”, a button on the left of the telephone that set off Moto AI. Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot and for the primary time, the AI search engine Perplexity AI can be preloded on the machine. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Categorical)
“Pantone brings world experience and an enormous community of execs who work throughout industries — from trend and attire to automotive and inside design. This deep information of the colors that can affect shoppers when our merchandise hit the market is the actual key. Our opponents also can attempt to work with colors, however selecting the correct colors is what issues — and we will do this as a result of we’ve got the suitable associate.”
“We overview with them a number of occasions a 12 months. From these opinions, which initially don’t have anything to do with color, we start to distil info from what’s referred to as forecasting. Based mostly on that forecasting, we begin deciding on colors collectively. After all, we depend on their experience, however we make the alternatives collectively as a result of we’re the specialists in our subject — cellphones,” he stated, explaining how Pantone colors are chosen.
The model additionally considers seasonality when making these choices.
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“Sure colors may work properly in different fields, in different verticals, in different industries, however in the case of cellphones, you need to know which of them will work greatest for our units. We additionally know when our merchandise will hit the market, and seasonality, imagine it or not, performs a giant function. When our merchandise launch, they’re a part of a broader story of what’s occurring on this planet of shoppers,” Castano stated.
Going past colors
However as Castano defined, color is only one a part of the story. Motorola can be placing a variety of thought into selecting totally different supplies and finishes for its units to make its merchandise really feel extra welcoming. He stated it’s all a part of the plan to make intentional design issues and produce splashy colors and differentiated finishes, aside from steel physique designs, to ensure their merchandise really feel extra like an extension of their clients’ personalities.
“There’s a variety of effort put into the fabric, texture, and end of the machine. If you decide it up and maintain it in your hand, it doesn’t really feel like a low-cost piece of plastic. It’s vegan leather-based, supplies, and textures developed with a variety of know-how that complement the general expertise. And every machine is totally different from the following. Every color is totally different from the following. We don’t apply the identical texture as a copy-and-paste course of throughout our total line. We go the additional step of figuring out the color after which deciding on the suitable end and texture that works greatest with that particular color,” he defined.
Rising in India
Motorola has skilled a resurgence within the world smartphone market these days, with the model setting an aggressive goal to turn into one of many prime three smartphone gamers on this planet inside the subsequent three years. Lenovo, the world’s largest PC vendor by quantity, acquired Motorola from Google in 2014.
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In recent times, Motorola has made strategic modifications and is specializing in refining its portfolio throughout each high-end and mid-range smartphones. In 2020, Motorola rebooted its iconic Razr as a foldable smartphone. That machine, together with its subsequent variations, has positioned the model in direct competitors with Apple and Samsung within the high-end telephone market.
“Moto AI is just not an utility or a vacation spot. It’s accessible in every single place—on the lock display, the house panel, or inside any utility, at any given time,” says Castano. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Categorical)
Within the US, Motorola is the third-largest smartphone vendor by market share. In Latin America, Motorola is the second-largest participant. In India, Motorola has a 6 per cent market share in 2024, however the model has seen a development of 135.9 per cent, the very best amongst all smartphone manufacturers within the nation, in accordance with Worldwide Information Company (IDC). Motorola grew 23 per cent in 2024, surpassing 57 million items globally, as per analysis agency Canalys.
A part of its development in India comes from the mid-range phase. “It’s at all times about pricing the merchandise accurately. It’s additionally about discovering the suitable options which might be significant for shoppers and bringing them at extra reasonably priced value factors, with out sacrificing high quality or premiumness, as a result of all these issues might be delivered in a really compelling package deal. For us, the success we’ve got seen in India additionally has to do with the truth that we’re in a position to put collectively a really cohesive worth proposition for the Indian client — nice design, interesting colors, supplies and finishes, and nice sturdiness on our units,” stated Castano.
He stated the best way Motorola introduced premium options like curved shows, premium vegan leather-based finishes, styluses, and AI options to smartphones at reasonably priced costs has resonated with shoppers in India, and that’s mirrored in how the model grew within the nation. Motorola manufactures its smartphones in India.
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However as Castano indicated, Motorola desires to be seen as a life-style model as a lot as a tech model. That’s a part of the technique to seize market share in numerous product segments. In current months, the model has expanded its related ecosystem by debuting laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and wi-fi earbuds.