Motorola previewed a new flagship phone, the Moto X, which will be the first of a raft of  smartphones launched by the vendor between now and October.

Speaking at the All Things Digital D11 conference, CEO Dennis Woodside revealed that the new device will be “broadly distributed” and claimed it to be the first smartphone to be built in the US.

“Between now and October, we are going to be launching not just a single phone but relaunching our entire product portfolio,” said Woodside, adding that he is confident the new products: “They are unlike other things out there.”

Although processors for the device will come from Taiwan and its OLED screens from South Korea, Woodside said the Moto X would be 70 per cent assembled in Texas, something that will be an advantage, he said.

“When your manufacturing is thousands of miles away from your engineers and your designers, you lose the ability to innovate. You lose the ability to make fast changes to how you’re manufacturing things,” he said.

The Moto X will feature new functionality through the use of on-board sensors, including the ability to know when the user takes it out of their pocket. “It anticipates my needs,” Woodside said.

It will also be broadly carried by US operators, which Woodside said hasn’t happened for several years.

Woodside believes Motorola can do well in the low-cost, high quality market: “I think there is a huge opportunity at the lower end. Feature phones sell for $30; high-end smartphones cost $650. That’s not going persist,” he said.

Turning to Motorola’s relationship owner Google, Woodside said the company does not have early access to Android code, with no advantage being conferred.

He added that Google’s Larry Page simply wants Motorola to return to its roots of innovation, something at which it excelled a decade ago.