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The 2025 ThinkPhone perfectly encapsulates Motorola’s modern struggles

By Adrian Diaconescu

Published: Sep 26, 2024, 6:57 AM

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According to a hot new, almost surprisingly detailed, and likely 100 percent accurate leak, the second ThinkPhone edition is coming at some point next year. Wait, that can't be right. After all, the first such handset developed by Motorola in collaboration with parent company Lenovo was formally unveiled in January 2023, making it logical to expect a second generation this year and a third one in 2025.

For some reason, that 2024 release never happened, which means that next year's model will indeed directly follow in the footsteps of last year's first ThinkPhone generation. That's a bizarre and highly unusual product upgrade strategy, especially for a company that likes to take a vastly different approach to essentially every other smartphone family under its name.

Wake up, Moto!

I expect you're all familiar with the iconic "Hello Moto" slogan, but in the context discussed here today, I believe a new rallying cry is in order. That's because Motorola clearly slept through the positive reception and excellent word of mouth generated by the OG ThinkPhone... once its price hit that $399.99 sweet spot.

At that point, the already remarkably well-reviewed Motorola ThinkPhone became quite possibly the best budget 5G phone many US buyers could get, and although I obviously don't have any official sales figures from the company itself, the numbers our frequent deals posts racked up over the last 12 months or so strongly suggest a lot of people actually paid those four Benjamins for this device.

So handsome, so unconventional, so full of promise. | Image Credit -- PhoneArena

Instead of trying to capitalize on this somewhat unexpected enthusiasm with a quick, improved, and affordable sequel, Motorola left the first generation to wither away and die an unceremonious death. Don't believe me? Try to purchase the ThinkPhone now.

That's right, both Motorola and Lenovo are listing it as "unavailable" (which is another word for "discontinued") on their respective US websites, with no sign of the phone visible at retailers like Best Buy anymore and Amazon... somehow still selling it at that aforementioned record low price (although likely not for long).

This is without a doubt a sorry and totally undeserved fate for a device that felt like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise pretty stale industry atmosphere. That's probably the thing that hurts most about Motorola's strategic ThinkPhone blunders - that this is a product which deserved a timely sequel due to its unconventional aspect and regardless of its commercial success.

Why is it so hard to take a risk and stick with it?

If this ThinkPhone story feels oddly familiar to you, then I'm probably not the only one who remembers the revived Defy from 2021, the Motorola One lineup, and especially the modular Moto Z roster. Those were all (bigger or smaller) gambles for Motorola that were arguably abandoned too quickly and/or advertised too feebly.

You may argue that the reborn Razr was another creative swing for the Lenovo-owned company that's not dead... yet, and while I absolutely agree with that, I also think that Motorola would have ruthlessly killed off its modern foldable portfolio (before it could even become a true portfolio) were it not for the market segment's massive Samsung-led growth.

Will the ThinkPhone go the way of the dodo... and the Moto Z4 soon? | Image Credit -- PhoneArena

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like robust, security-focused, and business-centric devices from other brands will take off anytime soon, which makes me very fearful of the ThinkPhone family's future. My fears are amplified by the rumored specs and features of the 2025 edition, which are underwhelming... at best.

With an unremarkable MediaTek Dimensity 7300 processor, not-very-large 6.36-inch screen, not-very-large 4,310mAh battery, and not-very-impressive 50 + 13 + 10MP triple rear-facing camera system, that thing looks like an afterthought for Motorola, which would evidently rather focus on releasing two dozen instantly forgettable Moto G-series mid-rangers every... single... year.

Passed from Google to Lenovo ownership around a decade ago, the brand that was once synonymous with mobile industry innovation continues to aimlessly seek an identity, a niche, and a prestige that might be staring it in the face. That's one of the saddest things I've personally witnessed in the smartphone market of late, and it could explain (at least in part) why Motorola is incapable of breaking an invisible US share barrier of around 10 percent or cracking the global top five vendor chart.

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.