Motorola has launched 312 Labs, an arm of its business set to explore new technologies and innovations, as part of its expanding research and development investment.

That might sound potentially wishy-washy to the everyday person, but what it says to us is that Motorola doesn't want to be left behind when it comes to mobile phone innovation and new ideas. That's something the company has been at the forefront of in the past - you only need to remember the original Moto Razr and 15-years-later reimagining to see that.

"Motorola 312 Labs is focused on a few key areas including the connected ecosystem of the future, metaverse evolution, exploring new and unique mobile form factors and wearables, advancing display and AR & VR technologies," reads a line from the official press release.

The pick of that statement for us is the 'new form-factors' part, giving us an indication that Motorola is looking to step up its presence in the foldables market and beyond. But not in the currently conventional way, perhaps, given the use of the word 'unique'.

Of course there's nothing concrete at this stage. Motorola hasn't said "hey, look at this new omni-directional folding phone". And with so much industry focus on AR/VR/metaverse futures, perhaps 312 Labs - which is named as such because of its Chicago area code - is more futurologist R&D arm than a part of the company that will realise tangible new products. 

We'll have to wait and see what Motorola has up its sleeve. But on evidence of this announcement, it's not sitting quiet on the success of its mass-market smartphone business - it also wants to be known to innovate and take on its big-gun rivals, such as Samsung and its folding device successes, too.