Lenovo launched its ZUK Mobile brand just two years ago, but it seems that the company is now preparing to shut it down, as it focuses more heavily on its revitalized Motorola brand.
The writing was already on the wall for ZUK, amid further branding confusion that began last year, when Lenovo announced that it was phasing out the Motorola name, in favor of the "Moto by Lenovo" moniker. Last month, Lenovo revealed that it had had a change of heart, and that the Motorola name would play a key role in its mobile efforts, but it also signalled the possibility of ditching the ZUK brand.
Today, a post on Chinese social network Weibo indicated that there will be no "ZUK 3", apparently ruling out a successor to the earlier ZUK Z1, ZUK Z2, ZUK 2 Pro, and the most recently unveiled ZUK Edge flagship. That post elicited a response from noted analyst Pan Jiutang, who said that ZUK Mobile will be shut down in the next few weeks.
A separate Weibo post claimed that ZUK co-founder Chen Xudong will now head up Lenovo’s PC division, while Qiao Jian - the current Senior Vice President and Co-President of Lenovo’s Mobile Business - will take over Lenovo Mobile China.
It"s worth emphasizing that none of this has yet been confirmed by Lenovo, and there"s one other detail that remains far from certain too. A few days ago, a report from GizmoChina, citing Chinese site MyDrivers, stated that Lenovo Vice President Alex Chen Yu had posted on Weibo that future Moto devices would use the ZUI interface from ZUK. The post was apparently deleted before anyone else had seen it, although it was shown in a screenshot, which has since been widely circulated as fact, although some have already disputed its veracity.
The absence of any official confirmation regarding these apparent plans, and the embellishment by some publications of these unverified claims as facts, may make all of this seem like Chinese whispers - but given Lenovo"s well-documented indecision over the future of its Motorola brand, we wouldn"t rule anything out at this point.