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Motorola could cancel the Moto X5 amid confirmed layoffs
- According to an anonymous source, Motorola plans to abandon plans for the Moto X5.
- While the company never officially announced the follow-up to last year’s Moto X4, information on the upcoming device leaked in January.
- The source also confirms that Motorola intends to focus on the E, G, and Z lines for now.
An anonymous source talking with Android Police said that Motorola is canceling development of the Motorola Moto X5, which would have been the follow-up to the Moto X4 that came out last year. The news drops amid reports of a large purge of employees happening at Motorola’s Chicago offices.
The Moto X5 was never officially announced by the company, but a lot of the details of the device leaked at the beginning of 2018. According to the anonymous source, Motorola is abandoning the X line to instead focus on the E, G, and Z lines. If correct, that would at least partially line up with the information we obtained directly from Motorola, which explicitly stated the company’s intention to continue supporting and developing the Z line. The E and G lines, however, we have no confirmation on one way or the other.
This news is likely disappointing to Motorola fans, as the Moto X4 is a popular device that received excellent reviews from many publications, including Android Authority. The Moto X4 and its Android One edition are also two of the few phones that are available on Google’s telecommunication service Google Fi, so it’s quite peculiar that the company is choosing to abandon the line.
Lenovo bought the Motorola smartphone brand in 2014, making big promises about turning the company profitable. However, the promises haven’t been fulfilled, and Motorola continues to suffer from low sales.
The most significant thing that differentiates Motorola phones from the rest of the market is its line of Moto Mods, which can easily snap on or off phones. While the modular phone concept never really became a trend, it is nice to see that Motorola is not abandoning the one thing it does that separates it from the competition.
In fact, according to the anonymous source at Android Police, Motorola plans to continue supporting and developing Moto Mods. However, the company is looking to downsize its efforts to focus only on Mods that are practical and profitable.
Are you disappointed that you’ll likely not see a Moto X5 in the near future? Let us know in the comments!