Chinese computing giant Lenovo is readying to launch its “Moto” smartphones in South Africa on Thursday, a move that heralds the return of Motorola in South Africa.
Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility from Google in late 2014 for US$2,9bn. Google previously paid $12,5bn for Motorola Mobility in 2011.
Amid Motorola Mobility’s changes in ownership, the brand’s last high-profile smartphone launch in South Africa was the release of its Razr Maxx handset in 2012.
In January last year, the president of Lenovo Europe, Middle East and Africa, Aymar de Lencquesaing, said Motorola phones would make a comeback in South Africa before the end of 2015. That didn’t happen.
In January 2016, Lenovo rebranded Motorola as “Moto”.
Lenovo will launch Moto phones into the South African market on Thursday at a launch event in Johannesburg, with one of the phones being its Android-powered Moto Z.
Local Lenovo officials couldn’t be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Lenovo’s current PR firm, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, said Lenovo will “make comment at and after the launch”. An invitation to journalists to attend a Lenovo launch on Thursday, though, hints at a “Lenovo Moto launch”.
The relaunch of the Moto phones in South Africa has become an open secret. On Friday, Lenovo’s Africa Twitter account further hinted at the Moto South Africa launch in a tweet.
In June this year, local Lenovo executives were quoted in the press as saying that plans were in place to bring the Moto brand to South Africa before the end of 2016.
