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No weight given to operator design preference according to Motorola

Elliot Mulley-Goodbarne
October 8, 2018

Comments follows criticism of the Lenovo-owned brand earlier this year

Motorola has denied claims that networks have a deciding say on the design of devices.

This follows the announcement of the Motorola P30 by brand owners Lenovo in China, which was met with heavy backlash for being a “shameless” and “egregious” copy of the iPhone X.

Speaking to Mobile News, Motorola products expert Nedhal Parsons said that there is a “consultation process” that the manufacturer goes through with operators, customers and partners. But she said no specific weight was given to any response that Motorola receives.

Canalys senior analyst Ben Stanton said that manufacturers face pressure from the networks to create something similar to the top three manufacturers.

He said: “Mobile operators are putting an incredible amount of pressure on brands like Motorola and many others to develop clones of the best iPhone and Samsung devices.”

Motorola phone

Last week, Lenovo released details of the Motorola One smartphone, a £260 device that is expected to be in stores this month.

The new device features a 5.9-inch, 85 per cent active area display with a notch. It has a 13MP and 2MP vertical dual camera set up with image enhancing software and is splash-proof due to a coating solution from P2i.

Parsons added: “Before we do a product, we do a lot of research into the market and bring that all together, so the UK doesn’t have a larger voice than anyone else or any other country.

“You might see the same phone but under a different offering in India, for example, because the research has pointed to that being what they want.

“Carriers always want innovation and value for money and tend to come back wanting a good battery and display, a really simple look but there is nothing specific that they all call out, it is the same sort of pain point or asks.”

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