After a five-year break, Motorola -- now called Moto after a name change by Lenovo -- is coming back to Thailand, a market dominated by Asian phone brands.
Lenovo opened the door for Moto's return to Thailand this weekend after the Chinese computer giant completely took over Motorola's handset division from Google for US$2.91 billion in 2014.
Thailand is the seventh country in the world that Lenovo has selected for Moto's return.
"The move comes at the right time to capitalise on the arrival of full commercial fourth-generation (4G) wireless broadband service in the country," said Dillon Ye, vice-president of the mobile business group for Asia-Pacific.
Lenovo plans to double its marketing budget for smartphones in Thailand this year, the highest since the firm launched its smartphones here in 2013.
Mr Ye said global research firm IDC predicted sales of smartphones in Thailand will reach 23 million units by 2018.
Lenovo is focusing on a dual-brand smartphone strategy, with Moto aimed at the premium market (priced over 8,000 baht) while Lenovo's Vibe brand will focus on the entry-level segment, he said.
"We hope to replicate India's success in Thailand," said Mr Ye.
Tuantong Srivichaian, country manager of Lenovo Smartphone Thailand, said India, Indonesia and Thailand were strategic countries for Lenovo's smartphone business in Asia-Pacific.
Thailand is Asean's highest potential market thanks to fierce competition among mobile operators to aggressively migrate customers to next-generation networks.
"This is why we selected Thailand to launch both Moto smartphones and smartwatches as the second country in Asean, after Vietnam," said Mr Tuantong.
Lenovo expects smartphones priced more than 8,000 baht to account for 40% of the total handset market.
"We aim to double our share of the local smartphone market to 5% this year, with sales of 1 million units," said Mr Tuantong.
Lenovo appointed True Corporation the exclusive distributor for the Moto brand in Thailand.
The company yesterday unveiled three Moto models: Moto G Turbo, Moto X Play and Moto X Style, priced 8,290, 12,990 and 19,990 baht, respectively. The phones will go on sale on April 2.
Lenovo will also introduce two Moto 360 smartwatches in Thailand on April 2, priced 12,999 and 13,999 baht.
Kittinut Tikawan, chief commercial officer of True Corporation's mobile unit, said 4G services will drive demand for 4G-enabled smartphones this year.
"Up to 70% of an expected sale of 18 million smartphones this year will be 4G handsets, compared with 5 million out of 15 million sold in 2015," he said.