LG might pull out of smartphone business after all

20 January 2021
The CEO Kwon Bong-seok sent an internal message, saying if the division folds, “employment will be maintained”.

Sort by:

Anonymous, 23 Jan 2021LG, who is still buying for now? When the first Samsung ... moreEven LG G7 uses LCD. But you need to see that display once! The moat accurate and natural colours and graphics could ever look. It uses WRGB pixels compared to standard RGB.

You got LEDs even as indicator lights but OLED/AMOLED although are a kind of LEDs are on a different level, likewise G7's LCD is in a different zone altogether. OLED/AMOLEDs are no doubt punchy but colours look a bit oversaturated and unnatural while normal IPS LCDs look faded and unnatural. G7's LCD takes the exact sweet spot in-between the two.

    • L
    • Love the Community
    • Fv4
    • 25 Jan 2021

    My ATH-M50X and soon Drop x THX Panda weeps. Now there's no phones with a DAC as legendary as LG. All headphone jackless phones never have a DAC in a first place. I don't want to spend less than $1000 on audiophile gear like a Fiio or something. I want a less than $1000 flagship phone that has all the audiophile specs and ESS Sabre DAC has it and only LG's buying it from them.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • mQF
      • 23 Jan 2021

      Anonymous, 23 Jan 2021Other manufacturers make phones easy to purchase unfortunat... moreExactly. I had been considering an upgrade to my LG V30 for a couple years now, and each their most interesting products were incredibly hard to come by or even impossible to get unless I imported them.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • tA$
        • 23 Jan 2021

        LG, who is still buying for now?

        When the first Samsung Galaxy S was released, it already used OLED, while LG until the G6 still using LCD, some people knew that OLED produced more vibrant colors than LCD with the same price market

        When the potrait bokeh trending, LG chose UltraWide which can't be used for potrait shoot, before the AI potrait was introduced years later

        With the same price like Samsung, LG marketing teams are not aggresive like Samsung, also LG software update is worse than Samsung, very slow upgrade even LG thought that 1 major upgrade was enough before they changed their mind because they had lost the marketshare because people moved to samsung

        The G4 motherboard issue was very bad at that time, worse than S7 OLED issue, while S7 OLED issue occured after the warranty is end and not all who got that, G4 motherboard issue occured even it is still on warranty and caused lawsuit

        LG innovation now not worthy at all, Dual Screen Case? Not all want it, they already lose from cheaper and more innovative Chinese brand, they even can't become the premium smartphone maker anymore

        Actually the best LG phone ever is V20, better design, dual big screen, dual camera, dual flash with laser and ois, replaceable battery, the only issue is because of Quantum LCD, they likely to suffer image retention(like the OLED burn in), which not really convenient for most user since it was using LCD not OLED

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • mp4
          • 23 Jan 2021

          Other manufacturers make phones easy to purchase unfortunately lg don't the wing is a great phone but where can you buy one outside of Asia?

            • Z
            • Zoe
            • CGH
            • 22 Jan 2021

            NEWorldphoto, 21 Jan 2021As others have said, it's a shame if LG lefts the smar... moreFor me LG phones are not bad at all, I have been using LG v30 and as far as I know, I am having a fantastic experience. I love it and I hope LG never stops manufacturing mobile phones.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • RxY
              • 22 Jan 2021

              NEWorldphoto, 21 Jan 2021As others have said, it's a shame if LG lefts the smar... moreG5 got its 9mm ultrawide lens and it is by far the most awesome thing I have ever ecperience.
              Also needed to mention that LG use native 16:9 aspect censor previously, made it to obtain a wider coverage. I can even capture my legs while walking, meanwhile, holding the my phone while pointing at the front.
              for ultrawide angle lens, 16:9 aspect is a must. I don't care about edge transformation. Who the heck would smell into the corners.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • SvB
                • 22 Jan 2021

                flagshipper, 21 Jan 2021The death of LG smartphone business was reinforced when the... moreCan't judge them for thinking outside the box and being a company ahead of times while stiking to the good roots. Theyr problems are related to marketing strategies and logistics, suply chains etc. You can't be succesful if your product hits the shelfs 4-6 months after a product has been lauched. They lost the hype because of marketing and logistics with every new smart phone.

                  • D
                  • Deepak Mukate
                  • Dkc
                  • 22 Jan 2021

                  Lg Plz don't Give up, lg mobile is best in class mobile brand plz change ur production and marketing statergy

                    • L
                    • LGUser
                    • tZ4
                    • 22 Jan 2021

                    LG might be slow in giving updates, but the software updates they push out are usually bug-free and very stable. Add to that LG's generally excellent audio experience, battery optimisation and video recording. Still rocking my 2 years old V35 with original battery that can still get 7.5 hours SOT. Thinking of finally letting the V35 retire gracefully by getting the V60 or Velvet-replacement.

                      • N
                      • NEWorldphoto
                      • 0ae
                      • 21 Jan 2021

                      As others have said, it's a shame if LG lefts the smartphone market. I've been using LG phones for several years without problems, and currently use a V30.. not the newest model, but the V30 specifically has a unique set of features that are important to me, and no other smartphone currently on the market can duplicate such "set" of features, except for the much more expensive Samsung Galaxy S10 and above.
                      One very important feature for me is the ultra wide angle camera, and after the V30 with its 13mm equiv. wide angle, ALL the successors to the V## series have downgraded to a less wide angle of only 16mm equiv., which is quite a good difference in angle coverage, as in wide angle only a few millimeters make a big difference in the angle covered!
                      So I think LG made a bad decision in downgrading that camera spec in all their latest models, and allowing Samsung and Apple with their latest models' 13mm wide angle cameras to get ahead of them in that specific feature, which may not be so important to most people, but it's very important to me as a photographer. For that reason alone, if my V30 ever goes kaput and I have to replace it, I'll have no other option to upgrade to a newer LG with such ultra wide camera, and my only choice will be getting a Samsung S10 or newer at a quite higher price than LG flagship models used to sell.
                      Oh, and these are the specific features that are important to me and ONLY the V30 and Samsung S10 and above have them all, that NO other phone in the world has duplicated yet: • The super wide 13mm camera. • MicroSD card slot. • High resolution 1440 pixel wide display (useful for grabbing screenshots at higher resolution and capturing more details). • Always on display. • IP68 waterproofing. • Headphone jack, of course. • USB Host mode (aka USB On The Go; it allows fast transfer content from memory cards and USB sticks directly to phone with a USB OTG cable, an important feature for photographers). • DNG and 4K capture. • Optical image stabilization. • And maybe a few things more that don't come to my mind now.
                      All being said, LG: please bring back the 13mm camera to a future V70, with at least 16MP resolution or more by adding a quad bayer sensor like Samsung and many others are doing; and DON'T remove or downgrade any of all the other features of your current flagships!! And please don't overprice it like Samsung and Apple are doing, overpricing their phones more and more with every release, taking advantage of their almost monopoly (or "bipoly"?) position! And finally, do something like integrating Android One in order to be able to upgrade and have the latest Android version on your future phones. Do that, and you'll be able to continue competing in the smartphone market and don't abandon it.
                      Otherwise, I'll have to find a more expensive and older Samsung S10 if my current V30 ever goes BOOM! 😆

                        • R
                        • Raghav
                        • 7kp
                        • 21 Jan 2021

                        R I P
                        Greatest sound output hifi quad dac......

                          • R
                          • Ruuuuu
                          • PV{
                          • 21 Jan 2021

                          They started their own nightmare when they did not address phone issues for LG G4.

                          They introduced modular phones for LG G5 but did not put the company in a safe ground.

                          This company has the worst after sales

                            • w
                            • well
                            • 0Ue
                            • 21 Jan 2021

                            the obvious happened, since the LG G2 8 years ago they went in the opposite direction of the market and customer whishes. It had to happen.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • JF7
                              • 21 Jan 2021

                              Good, good. Sealed their batteries, made their bezels chunkier. Basically gave up on everything that used to differentiate them and tried to (poorly) imitate others... good thing they die.

                              They are in my hitlist. After the death of HTC and Nokia (hopefully Sony and HMD follows), I am hoping that LG will be added in that grim list. Basically Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung and Apple are the only good phone makers anymore. Possibly Asus too. While the rest do not deserve to die (as a whole), some of them have definitely overstayed their welcome.

                              HTC/Sony/HMD and LG please die, die, die!

                                LG couldnt make V50 and V60 dual sim global version. So useless company anyway. Good bye!

                                *Happy V40 dual sim owner.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • y6V
                                  • 21 Jan 2021

                                  Let's just hope that they'll just reorganize the whole thing than dissolve it entirely.

                                  They have lots of models and they need to iron that out first by having a unified portfolio of some sort. Their product lineup is so confusing and their usage of dated internals ain't even helping their situation any further.

                                    • S
                                    • Somuguru
                                    • U@r
                                    • 21 Jan 2021

                                    No more quad dac and mil 810 phones :(

                                      • f
                                      • flagshipper
                                      • U}g
                                      • 21 Jan 2021

                                      The death of LG smartphone business was reinforced when they decided to ignore the new trends. V30 was a great one, highly competitive, but V40 and even V50 still had fingerprint in the back, and these models didn't even appear on many markets. I can't see almost any models being sold now. I look at the specs of newer models, and i still don't see 90/120Hz. Still slow charging. Looks like they're stuck in the past.
                                      I predicted HTC fate in similar fashion, for similar reasons. What could save them is to innovate front camera - under display. Or find out an ultralight battery to fix another problem nowadays: heavy phones. Instead, they threw money into Frankenstein phones with 2 screens which noone will ever buy.

                                        • R
                                        • Robinio
                                        • n37
                                        • 21 Jan 2021

                                        It would be a shame if they exited. My previous phone was an LG G7, the audio was by far better than any other phone I've had. There's nothing else out there currently that provides a good audio experience, especially now the majority of flagships have ditched the 3.5mm jack. I know you can get external dacs, but that's just another device to cart around.
                                        If I could have found a V60 available in this market I would have remained with LG, but could not get any and didn't want to import in.