Motorola Mobility will shut down its smartphone factory at Fort Worth, Texas by the end of this year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the plant which was opened in May 2013 had 3,800 workers, which has now reduced to 700 employees. The factory primarily assembled the Moto X, Motorola’s high-end smartphone.
The Moto X smartphone failed to pick up unlike its budget smartphone Moto G and hence, the company sold 900,000 Moto X smartphones globally in the first quarter, as per the report. It also stated that Motorola will continue to produce the Moto X in China and Brazil, among other locations. Another reason for the shutdown was high manufacturing costs.
Google announced plans to sell the Motorola Mobility smartphone business to Lenovo for approximately $2.91 billion in January this year. Motorola has shifted its focus from high-end devices to low and budget handsets as the company launched Moto E for Rs 6,999.