The era of LG smartphones has come to an end – the company was unable to sell its mobile business and is liquidating it
LG has been trying to find a buyer for its mobile business for several months, but in the end, it did not succeed. According to The Korea Times, the company decided to liquidate the unprofitable division.
According to the source, LG was negotiating its mobile division’s sale with several potential buyers at once. The South Korean edition names the Vietnamese corporation Vingroup as one of them. As a result, the electronics manufacturer did not agree with her or with other parties. The company also tried to sell the mobile business piece by piece, but that plan didn’t work either. The only remaining option for LG was the dissolution of the mobile division, the newspaper writes. In this case, the employees of the department will be transferred to other departments.
The fate of LG’s mobile division turned out to be sad but quite expected. For several years this department brought only losses to the company, while other divisions showed constant and significant growth. Competition in the mobile device market has increased significantly over the years. New players emerged and quickly gained popularity among consumers by releasing more affordable devices.
In 2020, LG shifted its focus from flagship devices to more affordable smartphones with a premium look, like the LG Velvet, and started developing unusual smartphone models. One of the most recent examples is the LG Wing model with two screens and a pivot mechanism. This turned out to be insufficient, and at the end of last year, the company again reported large losses.
LG declined to comment on the possible liquidation of the mobile business. They only note that all options are still being considered. However, numerous industry sources claim that the announcement of LG’s mobile division’s closure will be announced on April 5 during the company’s next board meeting.
One of the latest innovations from LG was supposed to be a smartphone with a flexible screen under the unofficial name LG Rollable. The device was unveiled at the CES 2021 Electronics Show earlier this year. Shortly after unveiling the gadget, the company announced that it plans to release the device on sale within a year. Given that LG’s mobile business’s fate hangs in the balance, it looks like this new product will never see the light of day.
