LG is considering withdrawing from the smartphone market. Faced with the collapse of its sales around the world, the South Korean firm could choose to close part, if not all, of its mobile division.
On January 20, 2021, Yonhap News, a South Korean news agency, shared an internal memo received by LG employees. This memo was written by Bong-Seok Kwon, the current CEO of LG Electronics, and suggests that the group is studying the idea of ​​burying its mobile branch.
“LG Electronics has come to the point where it is time to make the best choice by calmly judging its current and future competitiveness in the mobile sector” explains Bong-Seok Kwon. In front of competition from Chinese brands like Huawei, OnePlus or Xiaomi, LG’s mobile branch is struggling to seduce buyers and keep its head above water.
On the same subject: here is the LG Rollable, a new smartphone with a roll-up screen
The end of LG smartphones?
In the space of 5 years, LG’s smartphone division has also lost up to 3.743 billion euros. In 2015, LG still held 15.4% of the smartphone market. End of 2020, the brand’s market share worldwide does not exceed 3%. In France, LG has not been present in the mobile phone market since the start of 2019, i.e. almost two years. At the time, the French branch explained that it wanted “to make a break” in order to ‘“Come back stronger” when deploying 5G.
Aware of its shortcomings, LG wonders about the future of its mobile division. “Currently, all possibilities are open and the orientation of the operation of the company is carefully reviewed” warns Bong-Seok Kwon in his internal memo. Asked by our colleagues from Android Authority, a spokesperson for LG confirms the veracity of the memo and specifies that “Nothing has been decided yet on the future of our mobile business, but management is keeping an open mind”.
Regardless, this is not the first time that LG has hesitated to pull out of the mobile phone market. Already in 2012, LG admitted to considering leaving aside the telephone sector for better focus on televisions. We’ll tell you more as soon as possible. While waiting for more information on LG’s defection, feel free to give your opinion in the comments below.
Source: Android Authority
