Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) have both had their fair share of problems, and both are currently working on on pulling themselves out of the trenches.

So, Sanford Bernstein is proposing that the two should merge. Together, the investment bank argues there would be tremendous cost savings, and the two handset-makers would have decent global marketshare, reports the WSJ. They are also both focusing on Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android’s operating system.

Sanford is not explaining how the merger would go down, and it could be complicated since Sony Ericsson is a nine-year-old joint venture between both Sony and Ericsson. A merger could also be difficult geographically, given that Motorola is based in a Chicago suburb, and Sony Ericsson is in based in London with R&D headquartered out of Sweden. But it’s definitely true that Motorola has been attempting to spin-off its struggling handset division for the past couple of years.

Here’s the justification for the merger:

—Marketshare: Both Motorola’s and Sony Ericsson’s global handset market share is less than 5 percent each. But both are strong in different markets. Sony Ericsson has a decent market share in Europe (12.4 percent) and India (10 percent) and Motorola has good marketshare in the U.S. (17.3 percent and China (10 percent).

—Cost savings: Sanford estimates that there would be significant cost savings from R&D and marketing. Currently, Sony Ericsson spends around 15 percent of revenues on R&D and 13 percent of revenues on SG&A. Motorola spends around 33 percent of revenues on operating costs for devices. Sanford estimates that a merger could save 10 percent in operating costs.