Lenovo finds Motorola still not meeting expectations after acquisition

Only a year and a half after the acquisition of Motorola, Lenovo believes that the move ‘has not lived up to expectations’. The Chinese hardware manufacturer makes this known with the presentation of its annual figures.

For the full fiscal year, Lenovo sold 66.1 million tablets and smartphones. In the fourth quarter, the company managed to sell 10.9 million smartphones, of which just under 5 million carried the Motorola brand. Lenovo still releases smartphones under the Motorola name, although it said it plans to replace the brand name with Moto by Lenovo at the beginning of this year.

The Chinese market in particular failed; the number of phones sold in China was 85 percent lower and the recovery in the US was also disappointing. A year earlier, Lenovo sold 76 million mobile devices worldwide, with Motorola accounting for 7.8 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

The PC division, which also includes Windows tablets, generated revenue of $6.2 billion in the fourth quarter. As a result, turnover decreased by twenty percent compared to last year. Lenovo says it is looking for niches with growth potential, such as gaming and detachables.

Lenovo ended its fiscal year with a loss of $128 million. The company’s total revenue came to $44.9 billion, 3 percent lower than last year. Revenue for the fourth quarter alone was 19 percent lower.

Lenovo says it has learned a lot from the acquisition and says it will quickly apply that new knowledge to help the company grow again. It mainly sees opportunities in the Chinese market and Lenovo wants to make steps there with its ZUK brand. In the rest of the world, Lenovo expects growth in emerging markets and in the US business market.