Flipkart to launch Moto X Style in India early Oct, price around Rs 36-38k; eyes Huawei Nexus 6P

After launching the ‘Play’ version for Rs 19,990, Flipkart is gearing up to launch the premium Moto X Style early in November at a price of around Rs 36,000-38,000 for the 32 GB version, setting up a battle with Huawei Nexus 6P – the latest from Google’s Nexus series – in India.

The current price of the phone is $475 on Amazon.com, translated to Rs 31,300. There is also another version with 16 GB of memory. If launched in India, the 16 GB version would be priced in the range of Rs 33,000-35,000.

At that price, the Moto X Style will also take recently launched large-display quad-HD flagships such as the HTC One E9+, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the LG G4 — all priced around the Rs 40,000 mark in India.

However, the biggest competitor for the Moto X Style will definitely be the Huawei Nexus 6P — which will resemble the Motorola model in more ways than one.

Both are expected to sport Quad-HD 5.7 inch displays and Snapdragon processors, as well as 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of  internal storage memory.

However, the competition between the two will be in terms of price. Last year’s Nexus 6 was priced at Rs 45,000 at the time of launch.

However, the model from Huawei is likely to be priced only slightly above the level at which last year’s Nexus 6 is selling right now (Rs 30,000), indicating a number around Rs 35,000, which would in turn require the Moto X Style to be priced at the same rate as well. In addition, the Nexus 6P is also reported to come with a curved, 2.5D display, which is not found in Moto X.

UPDATE: Nexus 6P has been officially priced at Rs 39,999 in India and $499 (Rs 33,000) in the US. The 64 GB model will cost Rs 42,999. The 5-inch Nexus 5X has been priced at Rs 31,900 for the 16 GB version and Rs 35,900 for the 32 GB version.

The curved display notwithstanding, Huawei’s Nexus 6P will face some troubles of its own differentiating itself from the Motorola-made Nexus 6 from last year. The Nexus 6 2014 comes with 32 GB of storage, a Snapdragon 805 32-bit processor, 3 GB of RAM and most importantly, a 6-inch, Quad-HD AMOLED display — arguably the best in India still.

The major downside to buying last year’s phone is that you’re getting a 32-bit device while everyone has moved on to 64-bit software. In addition, last year’s Nexus does not support Band 40 LTE — the most popular nomadic 4G system launched in India. It does, however, support Band 3 — the second most popular deployment and soon to be the most popular.

Another strong contender in this space is the LG G4, which offers the Korean company’s superior brand and reliability while offering more or less the same specs as the Moto X Style. The G4 is also built on the Snapdragon 808 6-core processor and offers 3 GB of RAM. However, the display size is 5.5 inch compared to 5.7 on the Style.

Lenovo is trying to position the Motorola brand as a premium one, while pushing Lenovo branded handsets to capture the mass market. Just last month, Lenovo said that it would merge its smartphone design team with the US-based Motorola team in an effort to drive synergies and improve the design aspects of its Lenovo-branded phones.

Meanwhile, November promises to be an exciting month for smartphone fans in India as it will see the launch of the first ever high-end Android phones with physical keyboards — the BlackBerry Venice and Samsung G9198 in India.

(NOTE: Article has been edited to clarify that the price referred to the 32 GB version, not the 16 GB model. Launch date is ‘early Oct, not early November.)