One of the biggest Android phone makers just took a shot at Apple

Motorola isn't too happy with comments made by Apple's lead designer Jony Ive in The New Yorker's recent profile of him.

Rick Osterloh, the president of Motorola, defended his company's smartphone strategy when speaking with the BBC on Wednesday while taking a shot at Apple's prices (via CNET)

Osterloh told the British news outlet that Motorola has a "different philosophy" than Apple, calling the company's prices "outrageous."

Here's what he said to the BBC's Leo Kelion:

We're making the entire product line accessible... And frankly, we're taking a directly opposite approach to them [Apple]...We do see a real dichotomy in this marketplace, where you've got people like Apple making so much money and charging such outrageous prices. We think that's not the future.

Osterloh's comments to the BBC were in response to Ive's criticism of Motorola's build-your-own device system it introduced with the Moto X in 2013. The New Yorker's Ian Parker was asked not to name the company Ive had referred to, but he described a strategy that sounds exactly like Motorola's Moto Maker.

Here's the excerpt from Parker's New Yorker profile of Ive where he makes comments seemingly aimed at Motorola:

In one of our conversations, Ive was scathing about a rival's product, after asking me not to name it: "Their value proposition was 'Make it whatever you want. You can choose whatever color you want.' And I believe that's abdicating your responsibility as a designer."

When you look at both Motorola and Apple's product lineups, you'll see exactly what Osterloh means when he says his company is taking "a directly opposite approach" from Apple. Two of Motorola's key strengths are making phones that are customizable and insanely cheap. In fact, the company said last year that the entry-level inexpensive Moto G was one of its best-selling phones to date.

Apple, comparatively, offers high-end premium phones for the most part. Its only cheap option, the iPhone 5c, is free if you sign up for a two-year carrier contract. But,you'll only get 8GB of storage and you'll have to pay the full price of $450 if you want it unlocked.

The newer Moto G, in contrast, only costs $179 off-contract. And other than choosing from the colors Apple offers, there's no real way to customize an iPhone, while Motorola allows you to combine different colors, accents, and build materials for its Moto X.