10 million handsets don't lie: Motorola is doing really, really well overseas

It’s always good news when a major manufacturer of Android devices is performing well. It means that particular company will hopefully continue to support the users of its existing products, and conjure up new ones to help keep the platform alive.

Motorola is one of those companies, despite the financial bumps in the road it’s hit in the past. Two years ago, the company was merely working out of a lab at Google’s headquarters. Now, it’s a part of Lenovo—one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world—and it’s boasting a 118 percent increase in profits, year-over-year, helped in part by the 10 million handsets it sold last quarter. That’s just a smidgen of how many devices Samsung and Apple have sold, sure, but it’s not to be overlooked either.

Motorola can attribute its major gain to its presence in emerging markets. The Moto G and Moto E are doing particularly well overseas in Asia and South America, and even the Moto X Pro sold incredibly well during its heralded return to China. 

The story behind the story: To say that there is a lot of competition in the mobile market would be an understatement. Between all the different platforms and device manufacturers, it can be difficult for one company to really stand out if its product isn’t extraordinary. 

So it’s great news that Motorola is performing so well overseas. Even though the company hasn’t sold enough units to make it No. 1, this certainly redeems Lenovo’s decision to acquire Motorola last year. It also means that Motorola’s brand power is worth something; that’s what Lenovo needs to hit it big here in the U.S., where it doesn’t have much of a foothold, and that’s what will help differentiate its products from the the likes of Xiaomi and Huawei in Asia.