Lenovo, which was based in China in 1984, has appointed Indian-origin Amar Babu, its Senior Vice President and President of Asia Pacific, as Basic Supervisor of its Cellular Enterprise Group and World President of Motorola, efficient 1 January 2027.

Babu will take cost of Motorola Mobility, the smartphone maker Lenovo acquired in 2014, which designs and makes all Moto and Motorola branded handsets.

Lenovo mentioned Babu will probably be tasked with accelerating premium development, increasing the corporate’s ecosystem of clever units and strengthening market share in key markets, together with the US, India and Japan.

Who will run Motorola till January

Babu will report back to Luca Rossi, Lenovo EVP and President of the Clever Gadgets Group. Rossi will proceed as appearing Motorola World President till the top of this yr.

Within the quick time period, Babu may even proceed to function President of Asia Pacific whereas working with Motorola’s leadership on the transition.

The appointment fills a job that has been held on an interim foundation since Sergio Buniac, a Motorola veteran, moved out of it earlier this yr. Buniac had spent three many years at Motorola, from 1996 to 2026, and most not too long ago led Lenovo’s Latin America division earlier than Qualcomm employed him as an government vp in August. At Qualcomm, he heads the Cellular, Compute and Private AI Group and stories to CEO Cristiano Amon.

“Amar is a robust chief and has pushed constant outcomes. I am assured that he’ll convey his deep expertise in gross sales, operations, accomplice and buyer relationships, and enterprise administration to proceed driving Motorola’s success globally,” Rossi mentioned.

“As we transfer ahead, our focus stays clear: proceed to raise Motorola’s premium portfolio, create significant customers experiences throughout units, and convey expertise to life in methods which can be each clever and deeply human,” he added.

Who’s Amar Babu

Babu joined Lenovo in 2007 and has held roles throughout enterprise administration, operations, providers and market management. Earlier than Lenovo, he labored at Intel, HCL and Citibank in administration, operational and technical roles.

His roles at Lenovo have included Managing Director for India and South Asia, COO for Asia Pacific, and Vice President and Providers Operations Chief within the Clever Gadgets Group. In March 2021, Lenovo elevated him to President of its Asia Pacific business, succeeding Ken Wong. The area covers Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand, and India and South Asia.

Babu holds an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and an engineering diploma in electrical and electronics from PSG Faculty of Expertise.

Lenovo mentioned Asia Pacific turned a extra balanced and diversified enterprise and a key development engine throughout his five-plus years in cost. The area stored its primary place in PCs, in response to the corporate, whereas the infrastructure enterprise reached practically double-digit market share and the share of superior providers within the Options and Providers enterprise rose above 50%.

Motorola’s presence in India

On the cell facet, Lenovo mentioned Motorola reached practically 9% market share in India and have become the second-largest smartphone maker in Japan throughout Babu’s tenure.

In India, Motorola entered the highest 5 smartphone manufacturers within the January-March quarter of 2026, with an 8.9% share, in response to IDC knowledge. It was ninth in the identical quarter of 2024 with a 4.6% share, which implies its share practically doubled in two years.

Premium telephones now make up a rising a part of that enterprise. Shivam Ranjan, Motorola’s head of promoting for Asia-Pacific, mentioned at India Cellular Congress in October that nearly 50-55% of the corporate’s India income now comes from premium smartphones.

He additionally mentioned the corporate manufactures all its smartphones in India, together with flagship fashions, working with contract producers similar to Dixon, and exports India-made telephones to markets together with North America.

In Japan, Lenovo strengthened its place after buying the property of FCNT, the maker of the arrows and Rakuraku smartphone manufacturers, which had filed for chapter safety earlier than the deal.