Motorola would thrive if it created a rival to Google's Pixel 3a

This decade's been a rough one for Motorola. Google purchased the brand in May 2012 following a string of losses and quickly forced it to reduce costs by closing one-third of locations and axing 4,000 employees. The following year, it opened a new factory in Texas to manufacture the highly customizable Moto X flagship that was announced in August 2013. Less than three months later, the budget Moto G series was introduced and the entry-level Moto E series followed in May 2014.

These last two lineups helped turn the company around and led to strong growth in emerging ...