LG experimented with different designs for its phones, such as the LG Wing, to try to attract buyers.
Angela Lang / CNET
On Sunday, LG became the latest handset maker to step out of the “incredibly competitive mobile phone industry” as it struggles in a market dominated by Apple, Samsung and growing Chinese manufacturers.
The South Korean company said it would close its mobile business unit by the end of July. Instead of smartphones, it will focus on smart home products – an area where it is one of the biggest suppliers – as well as electric vehicle components, robotics, artificial intelligence, business-to-business products and other connected devices.
LG’s decision to close its phone business reflects the difficulties faced by many companies in the market. Apple and Samsung have long been the only companies that make significant amounts of money from smartphones, and even they have struggled at times. Consumers are holding their phones longer than ever before and are increasingly looking for cheaper models, such as Samsung Galaxy A alignment instead of yours Galaxy S flagship devices.
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Other legacy phone brands, such as Blackberry and Nokia have faced their own struggles, and none of the companies now exist in their original form. HMD sells Nokia-branded phones, while TCL sold BlackBerry-branded phones before ending the partnership last year. Nokia and BlackBerry, the leaders in the world of QWERTY phones, failed to make the transition quickly to smartphones with a touchscreen, which condemned their chances in the mobile market. LG also struggled to migrate to smartphones. While consumers and critics alike have liked their devices, LG has nowhere near the marketing power of Samsung or Apple’s cult following.
In 2007, the year the first iPhone went on sale, LG was the fifth largest supplier of phones after Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson – all companies except Samsung, which are smaller in the current smartphone market . In the fourth quarter of 2020, LG did not rank in the top five with respect to the world’s largest smartphone suppliers. Even Huawei, which is facing U.S. sanctions and don’t get the components you need to build your phones, got the fifth place. Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi and Oppo from China occupied the top four positions.
In the past decade, it has become more difficult to get consumer attention on mobile devices. LG has been experimenting with innovative designs for the past two years in an effort to attract buyers. Your LG Wing has two screens, one of which revolves on top of the other. And in January at CES, he sparked what he hoped would be the world’s first mobile phone. The device has a screen that extends upwards to create a larger screen, more like a tablet. As CNET’s Roger Cheng noted, “Presumably, the bottom of the phone, when in landscape mode, has a mechanism that rolls and unfolds the screen, similar to the operation of its scrollable OLED TVs – but on a smaller scale. “
But with the death of LG’s mobile business, the end of the future mobile phone comes.
“LG Rollable is no longer part of our product strategy in the future,” LG spokesman Ken Hong told CNET.
LG said it will continue to sell its current stock of phones and will provide services, support and software updates to existing mobile device customers for “a period of time, which varies by region”. The company’s business in the United States said that “additional details about software updates will be provided in the near future”.
Meanwhile, major American carriers have said they will continue to support users of LG phones.
An AT&T spokesman said in a statement that the wireless operator is “aware of LG’s decision to leave the mobile business”, adding that “as a commitment to our customers, we will continue to support those who use LG devices in our network like LG makes this transition. ”
The third largest US operator says it plans to continue selling through its existing device inventory and “will work closely with LG to determine next steps”.
LG is likely to fire some employees, although many are likely to move to other parts of LG’s business. It has employees around the world and manufactures its phones in China, Brazil and Vietnam. The company is considering reusing its facilities to make other products like TVs, Hong said, but closing is also a possibility.
“Moving forward, LG will continue to leverage its mobile experience and develop technologies related to mobility, such as 6G to help further strengthen competitiveness in other business areas,” the company said in a statement. “The key technologies developed during LG’s two decades of mobile business operations will also be maintained and applied to existing and future products.”
CNET’s Eli Blumenthal contributed to this report.