Lenovo Vibe Rumors: Lenovo Could Phase Out Vibe Line Of Smartphones
Lenovo, the electronics manufacturer that has been selling smartphones under the Motorola, Lemon, and Vibe brands, is reportedly aiming to streamline its product range by closing the door on its Vibe series of smartphones, a report from the Chinese publication Tech QQ says.
Vibe is the line of middle-to-high-end phones that has brought select markets the Vibe Z2 (dubbed "the selfie phone"), the Vibe Shot (a smartphone/pro-style camera hybrid), and the recently-launched Vibe X3. The Vibe X series was created to help expand Lenovo's smartphone market outside of China.
According to a report from CNet which mentions the report from Tech QQ, Chen Xudong, the president of Lenovo's Mobile Business Group said that Lenovo will axe the Vibe line and begin selling its mid-tier and high-end smartphones under the Motorola brand, which the company bought for $2.91 billion from Google in October 2014. Future Motorola smartphones will have a premium price range of $235 and $780 or between 1,500 and 5,000 yuan. Budget handsets will be sold for as low as $95 or 600 yuan through the Lemon line.
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However, Lenovo has denied the Chinese report. In the same CNet article, the director of Lenovo's Mobile Business Group, Sridhar Ramaswamy, said: "We created VIBE as a smartphone brand and we are committed to developing it. We do not have any plans to phase out the VIBE brand, and it will remain."
Lenovo is currently the fourth biggest smartphone manufacturer in its home market, China. According to Counterpoint Research, during this year's third quarter, the Chinese company was also the fourth biggest smartphone maker in the world. However, Lenovo has been struggling under an onslaught of Xiaomi and Huawei phones in China, causing its smartphone shipments to take a 26% plunge in 2015. Fortunately, the company's growth in India, South Asia, and the Middle East have helped keep Lenovo in the top five smartphone brands globally.
