Long-term Customer Financing and Sales Of Receivables (Narrative) (Details) $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Oct. 03, 2015 USD ($) contract	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Receivables [Abstract]
Outstanding commitment to provide long-term financing to third parties	$ 136	$ 293
Number of large customers contracts \| contract	2
Servicing obligations for long-term receivables	$ 615	$ 496

Represents the amount of sold long-term receivables for which the entity has retained servicing obligations.

No definition available.

Name:	msi_ServiceObligationForLongTermReceivables
Namespace Prefix:	msi_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant