LG reports record profit in Q1 but phone division keeps struggling

LG Electronics posted its Q1 financial results, noting consolidated sales of KRW15.12 trillion ($14.1 billion) and operating profit of KRW1.11 trillion ($1.03 billion). This is a result of 3.2% sales rise and 20% income jump, marking the highest Q1 profit ever and the highest quarterly profit since the summer of 2009.

The overall picture might be looking good for LG, but the Mobile Communications division is still in the red for the staggering 11th quarter in a row. Sales of phones were about KRW2.16 trillion (or $2 billion). Last year the Q1 report saw $176,000 in operating loss, but now it sank to nearly $126 million, and the company says the reason behind that is the revised smartphone launching strategy. Between January and March LG managed to ship just 11.4 million phones.

Even though the picture might look black, the Koreans managed to narrow losses by “improving cost structure through quality costs and modular design activities”. The forecast for the next quarter is that the intense competition will continue because of Chinese companies. LG will most likely raise its sales numbers by flagship model LG G7 ThinQ bound to arrive next week.

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