Telecommunications expert Motorola Mobility just initiated a significant new partnership with the popular artificial intelligence chatbot company Perplexity AI. The large language model app will be pre-installed on all of Motorola’s new smartphones.
Perplexity’s aim with the collaboration is to gain users not revenue, according to CEO Aravind Srinivas. He says it’s a win-win for both companies as more people start utilizing the LLM and Motorola gets to add neat new features to its devices.
“Your phone is now a personal assistant, answer machine and research analyst all in one, available to you on demand, 24/7,” Perplexity said in its blog post-style announcement. A Perplexity assistant will be able to send emails, remind the smartphone holder about important appointments and other scheduling and even reserve tables at restaurants.
Smartphone users can try out suite of advanced LLMs
Those who purchase a new Razr, Edge or Moto G series phone will receive three months of Perplexity’s Pro subscription for free. It normally costs US$20 per month.
This will enable phone buyers to access a “Deep Research” feature and a suite of advanced large language models including Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet, OpenAI’s GPT-4o and DeepSeek’s R1 and R1 1776. Perplexity has established strategic partnerships with these other high profile tech influences.
However, Perplexity AI will not be the default assistant on new Motorola phones due to pre-existing arrangements with Alphabet Inc Class A (Google) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (ETR: ABEA).
“Motorola can’t get out of their Google obligations, and so they’re unable to change the default assistant on the device,” Perplexity Chief Business Officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, said this week.
Perplexity AI’s name reflects the company’s desire to help people solve perplexing problems with the help of artificial intelligence. The AI chatbot creator currently rakes in just under US$100 million per year and has a valuation exceeding US$9 billion.
Motorola Mobility has been a Lenovo Group Ltd (OTCMKTS: LNVGY) (FRA: LHL) subsidiary since 2014 following a US$2.9-billion-dollar acquisition.
Perplexity Android app will come pre-installed on all new Motorola devices. And, we've worked together with @moto to optimize Perplexity Assistant for the Moto Razr, so that you can invoke it with the fold screen shut. New purchases will come with 3 months of Perplexity Pro. pic.twitter.com/Lh0DhdJXhf
— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) April 24, 2025
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