South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc will wind down its loss-making mobile phone division after failing to find a buyer, making it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market.
The company will end production and sales of mobile phone products on July 31 to focus resources on growth areas including electric vehicles (EVs), smart homes, robotics and artificial intelligence, it said in a statement.
Phones constituted 8.2 percent of LG sales last year and there will be a short-term loss of revenue, but the company expects the closure to be financially favourable in the long run. It will strengthen its car parts business and continue to develop mobile technologies such as sixth-generation networking and cameras, it said.
LG Electronics to end production, sales of its loss-making smartphone division
LG had announced in January it was considering all options for the business after logging nearly six years of losses totalling some $4.5 billion
Reuters | April 5, 2021 | Updated 09:12 IST
While LG currently ranks as the No. 3 brand in North America and No. 5 in Latin America by market share, globally its share is only about 2%
South Korea s LG Electronics Inc said on Monday it will end production and sales of its loss-making smartphone division. LG had announced in January it was considering all options for the business after logging nearly six years of losses totalling some $4.5 billion. Talks to sell part of the business to Vietnam s Vingroup fell through due to differences about terms, sources with knowledge of the matter have said.