Google's Motorola Mobility hardware unit is laying off about 1,200 employees, around 10% of its headcount in the US, China and India, the Wall Street Journal said in a report.

Staffers of Motorola Mobility, which is trying to return to profitability, were informed by the company via an email this week about the said layoffs.

The email reviewed by the Wall Street Journal said that "while we're very optimistic about the new products in our pipeline, we still face challenges. ...our costs are too high, we're operating in markets where we're not competitive and we're losing money."

The new cuts come on top of a 20% reduction of Motorola's workforce that started last August, when it said it would lay off 4,000 employees.