It looks like Lenovo-owned Motorola are going to take on Samsung and Apple in the premium 5G end of the smartphone market. Their key here could be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 898 premium processor, due shortly, with Motorola placing orders for several thousand units.
Last week, Motorola execs from the US quizzed journalists about the smartphone market, competing brands and the shape and form factor for future smartphones.
In Australia, Motorola has been playing in the entry and mid-range smartphone market with a lot of success. Sales here are up more than 85 per cent off a relatively small base.
However, insiders are tipping a Motorola high-performance premium smartphone is set to be launched shortly, called the MotoG200, with all mainstream carriers interested in the new device. 
If the new device with the top-end Qualcomm processor isn’t launched in the next few weeks, we could see it at CES 2022, which we will be reporting from.
The new device is set to be pitched at the Samsung Galaxy S22, which is set to be launched in February 2022.
In Australia, the device could be called the Moto G30.
If last week’s pow-wow with media was anything to go by, expect to see a device with a big battery capability, as well as a top-end camera, which could be because Motorola is tipped to use the Samsung camera sensor.
Also tipped is an OLED screen.
The Motorola Edge 20 Pro.
Some observers claim it’s “irrelevant how many units Motorola sells of their top-end model”.
“What they need is a star performer, a top-end model that proves Motorola have the engineering and development teams to deliver a premium model. If they do this and the MotoG200 is seen as a true premium device, then they will sell a lot more affordable premium smartphone.”
Also tipped is a brand-new Razr to take on the now popular Samsung Z Flip 3.
ChannelNews understands Motorola management are well aware the Samsung Flip is gaining traction and a reengineered Razr could be the answer to take on Samsung in this market.
Well-respected leaker Ice Universe has just posted some unofficial benchmarks for the Snapdragon 898 processor, suggesting we’re going to get a chipset that’s around 15 per cent speedier than the one in use this year.
