SAN FRANCISCO: Motorola on Thursday introduced a keenly-anticipated Moto X smartphone in a move aimed at reviving the withered mobile device maker bought by Google for $12.5 billion.
The Android-powered phone is the first Motorola smartphone created in collaboration with Google since the Internet titan completed its purchase of Motorola Mobility in May of last year.
The Moto X, due for US release in late August, could be a formidable foe in a global market dominated by Samsung, the leading maker of smartphones built with the Google-backed software.
It will also be available at that time in Canada and Latin America
"This was the kind of thing I think Samsung was most worried about," said independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.
"On paper, this is arguably the best Android phone on the market," he added. "This is going to upset Samsung and the other licenseesquite a bit."
IDC research firm figures for the April-June period showed Samsung on top of the global smartphone market with 30.4 percent to 13.1 percent for Apple, with LG third at 5.1 percent, followed by Lenovo (4.7 percent) and ZTE (4.2 percent).
"Google did not like the fact that Samsung had become so powerful; it basically owns the market," Enderle said of the South Korean consumer electronics giant that has flourished with help from Android software.
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