Recent rumors suggested that Lenovo was planning to nix its Vibe brand of smartphones, but the company now refuted such claims.
Lenovo is currently the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world, and it's expected to further boost its position. Some reports indicated that it would make some big changes to its product line in order to be more competitive, but not everything you hear (or read) is true.
The company is currently selling smartphones under three brands: Vibe, Lemon, and Motorola, after purchasing the latter from Google.
Just recently, Tech QQ reported that Lenovo was axing its Vibe brand of smartphones. The publication said it obtained this information from Chen Xudong, Lenovo's president of the Mobile Business Group.
The Lenovo Vibe range consists of mid-to-high-end smartphones, and Tech QQ claimed that Lenovo planned to ditch the lineup and retain only the Lemon and Motorola brands.
With this shakeup, the company would allegedly sell mid-range and premium smartphones under the Motorola brand in the future. The Lemon series, meanwhile, would cater to low-cost handsets, and inherit some of the hardware currently found in Vibe devices.
Lenovo, however, has denied these allegations. Speaking with CNET, the company said it has no plans to ditch its Vibe brand of smartphones.
"We created VIBE as a smartphone brand and we are committed to developing it," Sridhar Ramaswamy, director of marketing at Lenovo's Mobile Business Group, told CNET. "We do not have any plans to phase out the VIBE brand, and it will remain."
Counterpoint Research reported that Lenovo ranked as the world's fourth largest smartphone manufacturer during the third quarter. Lenovo smartphones have a good market performance in India and South Asia, but the company has yet to gain a more relevant foothold of the U.S. smartphone market.
It remains to be seen whether Lenovo will be able to better compete on the fierce U.S. smartphone market in the future. The Motorola brand should help its mobile plans, likely performing better than the Lemon and Vibe lines.
Nevertheless, Lenovo's efforts to boost its mobile endeavors and make its smartphones more successful do not include phasing out the Vibe series of smartphones. In fact, the company just launched a new Lenovo Vibe S1 smartphone in India, stirring plenty of interest.
