LG, the brand that is generally known for TVs, fridges and oftentimes washing machines, has announced that its officially closing down its smartphone division. This makes it one of the first smartphone developers to exit the smartphone biz completely following less-than-favourable revenue from some of the wackiest handheld devices in the market.
South Korea’s second-largest appliance brand struggled to keep up with competition from then-emerging smartphone manufacturers like Huawei and Xiaomi who’ve managed to dominate the modern mobile phone landscape (although how much longer Huawei will stay in the game is still up in the air).
Pour one out for LG
It’s estimated that its smartphone division has collectively lost around $4.4 billion since 2015. It’s no secret that that manufacturer invested resources into developing ‘game-changing’ or ‘innovative’ smartphone designs in the forms of the attachable folding displays (also found in some of the G-series), a vibrating display and palm reading on the G8 and the wonderfully inventive Wing.
In a press release sent out today, the company stated, “LG’s strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone sector will enable the company to focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.”
The statement continued on to say, “Moving forward, 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.”
Of course, the excitement of unboxing an LG-branded smartphone to see what strange features it’s built into the device will be sorely missed. In recent years, it felt like its smartphone division had a ‘why not?’ attitude towards designing smartphones, and it’ll be interesting to see who steps into that role in the future.