LG could announce its mobile phone business exit plan next week

It has been a while since reports of LG leaving the mobile phone business have been floating around the internet. While LG is yet to announce anything officially, a news report from The Korea Times suggests that LG will make that announcement as early as next week. In fact, the rumours suggest April 5 as the date on which LG plans to shut down its mobile phone business.

LG had previously tried to sell its business to another entity but the negotiations failed eventually. LG will hold its board meeting to decide the fate of its mobile phone business and make an official announcement on April 5, says the report. The company will relocate its resources and employees to other business units.

LG could announce shut down by early next week

“LG has considered various options such as a sale, split sales or pulling out of the smartphone business, but decided recently to pull out of the business,” industry sources were found quoting in the report.

LG has been struggling in the mobile phone business for the last few years, competing with its Korean behemoth and rival Samsung. Despite the company’s best efforts to bring new innovations to the smartphone space with unique concept devices, LG wasn’t able to sustain itself.

The company has, however, found a strong footing in other electronics categories such as home appliances and TVs. The COVID-19 pandemic helped LG see soaring demands in these segments, which is what led LG to revaluate its stocks. LG has also explored investing highly in the EV business. Last December, it joined hands with auto parts manufacturer Magna International to manufacture electric motors, onboard chargers, and inverters for EVs.

LG has so far denied giving out any comment on this matter of its business closure. There’s nothing to comment on. All we can say is that every possibility is open. Although we cannot confirm that right now, we will announce the specific direction of our mobile communications business,” said an LG spokesperson in the report.

Some of Lg’s recent forays into the premium smartphone segment include the LG Wing, LG Velvet, and LG G8X Dual Screen. The LG Wing explored the concept of a swiveling display that gives way to a smaller secondary display; all in a bid to improve multitasking. It also features a gimbal mode for its main camera system.

The LG Velvet was a design-based experiment and reached several markets in 4G and 5G flavours. India got the 4G variant and relied on the older Snapdragon 845 chip. LG launched it with the Dual Screen accessory as well. The LG G8X Dual Screen was last year’s flagship offering that provided one bargain of a deal during Flipkart’s Big Billion Days Sale in 2020.