SEOUL– South Korean multinational conglomerate LG has announced ending its smartphones, an official press release said Monday.
The decision to quit the smartphone industry will enable the tech giant 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.
It is to be noted that the phones division of the tech giant has been suffering from consecutive losses for more than half-decade. An estimate of total losses stands around at $4.5bn (£3.3bn).
The company only managed to ship 23 million phones while the leading android giant Samsung shipped a whopping 256 million in the year 2020.
The company’s board of directors on April 5 (today) decided to shut down LG’s mobile division worldwide however LG phones that are currently available in the market will stay up for sale. The company will also continue to provide software updates for the existing phones for a certain period which will vary by region.
Smartphone companies also struggled during the Covid-19 pandemic with an average plunge in sales of 10 percent in 2020 – mainly due to lockdowns limiting store openings.
The complete operations of the phone business are expected to be ended by 31 July 2021.
