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”.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • inR
  • 20 Jan 2021

Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021Chinese phones are not banned in USA. Lack of interest to... moreEven without the US market, Huawei became the No.1 smartphone vendor. Yes, they were popular.

    • A
    • Adul Al Salami Kebab
    • nrX
    • 20 Jan 2021

    Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021Chinese phones are not banned in USA. Lack of interest to... moreAT&T was blocked from making a deal with Huawei... There is CLEARLY INTEREST!

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • inR
      • 20 Jan 2021

      Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021Chinese phones are not banned in USA. Lack of interest to... moreHuawei mobile phones were banned from being sold in US. Yes, Chinese phones were banned.

        Schlafwandler, 20 Jan 2021Always and everywhere the same when MBA people manage thing... moreThey aren't wondering. MBA people are hired with a specific purpose, like improving stock value. And they care about specific statistics in reports. RnD don't generate ANY direct return, they are mostly long term investments and often cost a lot of money. So MBA people are specifically trained to do the same thing by the same textbook mantra:
        - kill RnD, it's a waste of money. Most brilliant innovations are made when engineers have limited resources (I read this somewhere)
        - throw lots of money at advertising because nobody will buy your product if they don't know about it (kind of true)
        - short term results are more important over long term, so screw every customer. Who cares about loyalty if MBA person will leave the company before the client comes back for a second purchase?

        They also have this funny idea that by concentrating on one specific market primarily and either ignoring or providing an excuse for other markets is a good idea. Look at Nokia, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and, probably, others. They used at least some of these advices.

        Nokia killed RnD and then sank (sold to Microsoft, sold no Chinese). Oh, wait, first they set someone from Microsoft as their CEO for a year or a few and lost nearly all of its market share in a year or several.

        Sony Ericsson got stuck in internal power struggle, killed RnD and stopped making the best camera phones of its time. Then became Sony.

        Siemens killed RnD and vanished in a few years.

        Motorola tried to compete with Apple so hard they stopped selling outside of USA, then killed RnD and tried to sell budget devices at flagship price levels. And then sold mobile division to Lenovo.

        There was also BenQ mobile, but who knows what happened to it...

        Sad to see lg struggling. But they had it coming with same old steps, like limited market versions of their phones (I couldn't find most of their flagship after g2 or g3 in my home market, only cut down versions at prices higher than imported original uncut phone), very limited availability (try to buy lg v60 or g8 in Europe, either pay insane markup, like double price compared to USA or pay for import and lose any and all software updates). One difference is that lg did try to innovate somewhat. Sadly, they tried to innovate in a very specific way - by making extremely niche, very expensive products for a very limited number of people. And this market got crowded very quickly.

        I hope LG will figure this out and cut down "trendy" "innovations" like curved screen (velvet) and slippery glass back. I hope they will just do one more flagship (v70, g9) with same hardware but different screen size, potentially using quad dac and 108mp camera, modern or last gen flagship soc. I'd also use side or back mounted fingerprint reader rather than under display. And stereo speakers, 90-120 Hz refresh rate, 64-128 GB memory, 6+gb ram and reasonable pricing. I would prefer a flat screen + tempered glass over rubbery screen protector (for longevity) on a curved screen. And a reasonable price (less than s21).

        I understand this is unlikely to materialize, but I can dream, right? :)

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 8Kf
          • 20 Jan 2021

          Adul Al Salami Kebab, 20 Jan 2021LG was humiliated by the Chinese in Europe the only reason ... moreChinese phones are not banned in USA.
          Lack of interest to sell there because ppl buy only Samsung or Apple.

          Most of Huawei sales are in China, have always been at least 70%.
          Oppo and Vivo have almost all their sales in China/India/Southeast Asia.
          Xiaomi in China/India.

          Trying to be popular in USA is lost battle.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • kky
            • 20 Jan 2021

            Adul Al Salami Kebab, 20 Jan 2021LG was humiliated by the Chinese in Europe the only reason ... moreThe v series is amazing. Their mistake was no g series and only having one model of the v60. Which was massive. No smaller variant or small g series to counter it. Just a huge v60 with nothing to appeal to people who don't want or need tablets like some of us.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • GQY
              • 20 Jan 2021

              notafanboy, 20 Jan 2021How so?They make really really mediocre devices with zero updates.

              Good riddance

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • GQY
                • 20 Jan 2021

                Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021LG is top#3 in Latin America, just behind Samsung and Motor... moreDoesn't show the fill pictuee, their mobile division just raked up $ 4.5 Billion in Debt in the past 5 years alone.


                Things are really bad for Mobile division.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • 8Kf
                  • 20 Jan 2021

                  Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021Cheaper? For who? They always overprice them and this are t... moreCheaper phones= to give up on flagships.

                  Like Google, Htc and Zte have done lately.
                  No device with SD8xx.

                    • A
                    • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                    • nrX
                    • 20 Jan 2021

                    LG was humiliated by the Chinese in Europe the only reason they had chance in the USA of A was since the Chinese are banned there mostly... :|

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • MkE
                      • 20 Jan 2021

                      They had it coming....Let´s face it, the last models were pure attempts to bring external investment

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • 847
                        • 20 Jan 2021

                        Anonymous, 20 Jan 2021Quit mobile is one possibility, not decided yet. They als... moreCheaper? For who? They always overprice them and this are the consequencies. Add the null software support, different specifications depending the market, average cameras and the lost is there. They always refused to me more realistic and position them properly to build first a solid base. The brand name today is not enough.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • kky
                          • 20 Jan 2021

                          These companies are insane and cannibalize themselves.
                          Or just because one company makes more money means they don't make enough.
                          The industry is disgusting

                            Sad to see. LG's been one company that could rival Samsung and has been innovating at various points. Yes market is competitive but having faulty phones and slow releases is not related to competitive failure.

                            If it went down, I'll remember LG for having quality clamshells in early 2000, then reflecting ahead-of-time innovations like Viewty and Prada. Followed by first true economical flagships in G series before they went down with Bootloop and QC issues.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • p2d
                              • 20 Jan 2021

                              Hey LG, how do you expect to sell phones when you don't make them available GLOBALLY?

                              Where's the global V60, LG??

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • D07
                                • 20 Jan 2021

                                Daum, 20 Jan 2021LMAO, this is simply market competition, Apple offered a be... moreDude.. look Apple is only big in North America..

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 8Kf
                                  • 20 Jan 2021

                                  Gandalf, 20 Jan 2021Was LG even in the competition? Per example, they hardly in... moreLG is top#3 in Latin America, just behind Samsung and Motorola.
                                  K series sells well. As well as Moto G.

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                                    • Gandalf
                                    • NhA
                                    • 20 Jan 2021

                                    KEk, 20 Jan 2021I seriously hope they dont pull out, because if they do, th... moreWas LG even in the competition? Per example, they hardly invest in EU market and we get less of their phones each time.
                                    Huawei came just after them with good advertisement campaign and they took a huge share of the EU market.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 8Kf
                                      • 20 Jan 2021

                                      Daum, 20 Jan 2021LMAO, this is simply market competition, Apple offered a be... moreSamsung is everywhere except North Korea.
                                      Samsung has ads on TVs more than any other brand. All the time.
                                      Samsung phones can easily be found at any store, supermarket and carriers.

                                      Samsung knows all these efforts later translate to sales and money.
                                      Other still do not understand that or simply have no conditions to do same.
                                      In the end it is like snow ball down the mountain.
                                      Little efforts to sell = poor sales = money loss

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 8Kf
                                        • 20 Jan 2021

                                        Quit mobile is one possibility, not decided yet.
                                        They also can focus on just cheaper phones as well.