Liu Jun, Lenovo's senior vice-president who heads the mobility unit, said it has already localized a number of Motorola applications, set up for Chinese buyers. The devices will pre-install a China-only navigation software, some utility apps and an app store operated by Lenovo.

Liu said the Moto devices will be initially manufactured in Tianjin municipality and in Guangdong province but there are also plans to move manufacturing to Central China's Wuhan, where Lenovo operates its largest phone and tablet assembly facility.

Motorola, headquartered in Chicago, quit selling phones in China more than a year ago after it was bought by Google Inc.

But since acquiring the company from Google for $2.9 billion early last year, Lenovo officials say they had been preparing Motorola to move back into more emerging markets.

Motorola will focus on the mid- and high-end sector in China, a market Lenovo has been finding hard to penetrate.

Liu said Motorola will not compete face-to-face with Lenovo-branded phones because the latter's major target customer group remains budget phone buyers.

Before reintroducing Motorola to China, Lenovo depended heavily on contract phone sales. But dramatic subsidy cuts from telecom operators have hurt sales.

According to research firm Analysys International, Lenovo remains in an intensive fight with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and affordable phone maker Xiaomi Corp to claim the top position in China.

"We come to China as a challenger," said Rick Osterloh, Motorola's president and chief operating officer, as he pledged to offer buyers the chance to design their own gadgets.

An online customer design program named Motorola Maker allows buyers to choose both the material and color of their phone case as well as the storage space available inside their phone.