LG has officially confirmed to exist smartphone business globally. LG Electronics will now shutdown the smartphone division that is a loss-making unit for years. This decision has also been approved by the company’s board of directors.
LG will continue to sell handsets until the inventory lasts and will also provide software support for the existing lineup for a certain period of time. This time will vary by region.
LG’s mobile division has been continuously reporting losses since Q2 2015. In 2020, it registered a loss of around $751 (USD) million. So, the company was looking to sell the smartphone business. After it failed to get a good deal, the company decided to shut down the whole division. The decision on employees will be taken on the local level.
LG Wing will be LG’s last major flagship. People who were waiting for LG Rollable should stop thinking about this phone. LG did several experiments with phones. It launched module phones, dual-screen phones, phones with high-end audio, and a durable phone. But what most consumers consider is the chipset. LG even launched a budget phone LG K42 with MIL-std-810g.
LG was making good phones but it couldn’t compete with Chinese phone makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo, and Vivo. Chinese phone makers were offering cheap handsets and became preferred choices of consumers over the years.
LG said that it will continue developing “mobility-related technologies.”
“LG will continue to leverage its mobile expertise and develop mobility-related technologies such as 6G to help further strengthen competitiveness in other business areas. Core technologies developed during the two decades of LG’s mobile business operations will also be retained and applied to existing and future products,” said LG in the press statement.
The shutting down of smartphone business is expected to be done by July 31, 2021.
