Jony Ive, Apple's head of design, commented on the MotoMaker tool that allows Moto X customers to change the appearance of a device to suit their personal preferences.

Ive, the man responsible for the design of the iMac, MacBook, iPod, iPhone and iPad, sees this as a cardinal sin in design, claiming it removes the value of the designer.

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"Their value proposition was: 'Make it whatever you want. You can choose whatever color you want.'" Ive said in The New Yorker's profile article.

"And it's abdicating your responsibility as a designer."

Motorola's President Rick Osterloh didn't see it that way, claiming MotoMaker is the future and Apple's high-profit model is a thing of the past.

"Our belief is that the end user should be directly involved in the process of designing products." said Osterloh in a statement to the BBC.

"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."

Motorola sells its own smartphones for nearly $200 cheaper than Apple's iPhone but hasn't seen the same success as Cupertino. It sold 10.5 million units to Apple's 74.5 million in Q4 2014.

Even though Android fans marvel at Motorola's new business model (and stock Android UI), the Lenovo-owned smartphone maker failed to reach a global audience until late last year.

Motorola will move into the Chinese market in 2015 alongside other popular mobile markets, hopefully increasing the overall sales. Even so, it will be very unlikely Motorola reaches the heights of Apple, unless customers drastically change their opinion of Cupertino.

TagsMotorola, Moto Maker, Jony Ive, Rick Osterloh