Iqbal Arshad is an American engineer, inventor, and technology executive. He has held senior leadership roles at Motorola Mobility, Google, and Lenovo, where he oversaw the engineering and global product development of numerous mobile devices, including the first DROID smartphone, the first Android tablet (Xoom), and the first Android Wear smartwatch (Moto 360).
Education
Arshad holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Miami, a Master of Science in Space Systems Engineering with a concentration in spacecraft design from Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Engineering Management (MEM) from Northwestern University.
Career
Arshad began his career designing cellular networks for Sprint. He worked at 3Com and WaterCove Networks before rejoining Motorola in 2003 to lead product development and management. At Motorola, he led the design and development of the first CDMA variants of the RAZR and RAZR 2 product lines, the first DROID smartphone (launched in 2009), the first Android tablet (Xoom) featuring Android 3.1 Honeycomb, and the first dual-core, dual-OS smartphone (Atrix 4G). He also led 4G LTE silicon and software development.
In 2012, Motorola Mobility was acquired by Google. Arshad was selected as part of the senior leadership team under CEO Dennis Woodside. During this period, he led the development of the Moto X, Moto G, and Moto 360 products, and launched the Nexus 6 in collaboration with Google.
In 2014, Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google. Arshad continued to lead Engineering and Product Development for both Motorola in the U.S. and Lenovo's Mobile Business Group in China. His team engineered the Droid Turbo 2 (the world's first smartphone with a shatterproof display), the modular Moto Z, and the Moto Mods ecosystem.
In 2017, Arshad founded xCoefficient, a design and engineering firm. From May 2023 to July 2024, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Cerence Inc., where he led the development of generative AI platforms and applications for the automotive market. He is also an adjunct professor at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and a founder and advisor of the Center for Deep Learning at Northwestern.
Awards and Public Service
In 2010, Arshad was named to Crain's Chicago Business "40 Under 40" list. He serves on the advisory board for Northwestern University's Master of Engineering Management program and is a member of the IEEE. He previously served on the Illinois Innovation Council. He has been a commencement speaker for Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and has presented at Northwestern Engineering's Design:Chicago event.
Patents
Arshad is credited as an inventor on multiple patents related to wireless communication, power management for mobile devices, and user interface technologies.
