Lenovo today confirmed that it is laying off a significant number of employees from its Motorola Mobility division. The company says that the layoffs impact “less than 2 percent of its 55,000 employees” across the world, and that the majority of the layoffs are from the mobile phone division. The news was first reported by Droid-Life this afternoon.

Today’s layoffs follow significant cuts last year, where Lenovo reduced its headcount by 3,200 across the company. In a statement provided to The Verge, Lenovo says the most current round of layoffs “are part of the ongoing strategic integration between Lenovo and its Motorola smartphone business as the company further aligns its organization and streamlines its product portfolio to best compete in the global smartphone market.” The company says that despite the layoffs, it is still intending to keep its Motorola Mobility headquarters in Chicago, refuting speculation that it may move the remaining staff to North Carolina where Lenovo has other offices.

Lenovo’s ownership of Moto has been marked by difficulties, as it has tried to adjust to compete in a very competitive smartphone market. Though Moto has produced well-executed, innovative smartphones in the past year, it’s not nearly as competitive as it once was. A raft of executivedepartures has also marred the company’s image under Lenovo’s tenure.

You can read Lenovo’s statement on today’s layoffs in its entirety below:

Lenovo today announced a resource action impacting less than two percent of its approximately 55,000 employees globally. The majority of the positions being eliminated are part of the ongoing strategic integration between Lenovo and its Motorola smartphone business as the company further aligns its organization and streamlines its product portfolio to best compete in the global smartphone market.

The company is also making adjustments in other areas of the business as part of a continued effort to manage costs, drive efficiency and support ongoing improvement in overall financial performance. While these actions are never easy, they are a necessary part of our continued efforts to ensure long-term, profitable growth across all of our businesses.

Lenovo is absolutely committed to Chicago and we plan to maintain our Motorola Mobility headquarters there. Chicago has a well-deserved reputation for technical excellence and as the hub of our global R&D for our smartphone business we expect to take advantage of local talent to continue developing Moto products there.

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