text: Lenovo plus Motorola was the 3rd largest producer of smartphones by volume in the world between 2011 and 2014. Since Lenovo's acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the combined global market share of Lenovo plus Motorola has fallen from 7.2% in 2014 to 3.9% in the third quarter of 2016. A number of factors have been cited as the cause of this reduced demand, including the fact that Lenovo relied heavily on carriers to sell its phones, its phones lacked strong branding and unique features to distinguish them in the competitive Chinese market where a weak economy and saturated market is slowing demand and the culture clash between a more hierarchical PC company and the need to be nimble to sell rapidly-evolving smartphones. In response to the weak sales, Lenovo announced in August 2015 that it would lay off 3,200 employees, mostly in its Motorola smartphone business.
  In the reorganization which followed, Lenovo was uncertain how to brand its Motorola smartphones. In November 2015, members of Lenovo management made statements that Lenovo would use the Motorola brand for all its smartphones. Then, in January 2016, Lenovo announced that it would be eliminating the Motorola brand in favor of "Moto by Lenovo". The company reversed course in March 2017 and announced that the Motorola brand name would be used in all regions in future products. "In 2016, we just finished transforming ourselves," Motorola Chairman and President Aymar de Lencquesaing said in an interview, "We have clarity on how we present ourselves."