Lenovo’s CEO said in an interview the company is preparing to release its first new Motorola-branded hardware since taking ownership of the firm last year. Speaking to the Telegraph, CEO and chairman Yang Yuanqing stated, “We have many new models in development with the Moto brands, so you may see in summer us launching some very exciting products, including phones and watches.”
While there’s no certainty in his words, it’s unlikely he would start spreading unsubstantiated rumors, so we’ll take this as a hint to wait and see what the summer brings from Motorola. What could Lenovo and Motorola be planning? We’ve already got some good ideas.
Earlier this year, Motorola president Rick Osterloh tweeted that the company was attempting to stay with a “roughly annual cycle” for refreshing its most popular phones — in this case the Moto X. The Moto X 2014 arrived in September 2014, making us a few months away from potentially seeing the Moto X 2015, a time frame which more or less fits in with Yang’s estimates.
What’s more, it sounds like we shouldn’t just be looking out for a new smartphone. Watches are specifically mentioned in Yang’s statement, making the highly anticipated Moto 360 sequel a distinct possibility for later this year. In fact, it was Yang Yuanqing who was responsible for what’s believed to be our first look at the second generation 360 smartwatch, when images showed up on the Weibo social network in March.
Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in October last year, and the company has been relatively quiet on the mobile front since then. That changed recently at Lenovo’s first tech conference, TechWorld, where it showed several exciting concepts, including a dual-screen smartwatch and a keyboard-projecting smartphone.
It’s doubtful either of these will be on sale before the summer is over, but we have higher hopes for a Moto X 2015 and the Moto 360 2.
