Motorola dies as owner Lenovo kills the brand that made the flip phone

The Moto brand name will stay on some phones, but the company that made the famous Razr flip phone and the ‘Hello, Moto’ ringtone is no more

A disco ball shines inside the Music Box Theatre where Motorola hosted their sixth anniversary party (Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

Motorola, the company that brought the flip phone to the world, is dead.

The iconic phone company’s branding is going to be killed off by its relatively new owner Lenovo, it has been announced.

The company will “slowly phase out Motorola,” its chief operating officer told Cnet. The Moto name that has been attached to its recent phones will continue to live on and the phones will keep the classic “M” logo, but those phones will now be branded “Moto by Lenovo”.

Motorola was once perhaps the most famous brand in mobile phones, making many people's first handset. It invented the now-iconic Razr flip phone — the first of its kind — and its “Hello, Moto” ringtone heralded the beginning of the popularity of the phones.

But the company had less success in the era of smartphones and the iconic brand has had less interest. It has still had some success with its Moto line of phones, however, and the company will keep that brand for its more high-end handsets.

The company has been through a number of different incarnations in recent years. It was bought by Google in 2012, and then sold on to Lenovo two years later.

At the time of Motorola’s sale to Lenovo, its boss said that the new company was “our treasure”. “We plan to not only protect the Motorola brand, but make it stronger," said Yang Yuanqing.

But now the Motorola brand will disappear entirely.