Earlier this year, we reported how LG is facing losses in its smartphone business, and the brand sees no chances of revival or a much-desired reinvention strategy. The latest report states that the company is calling it quits and announcing its exit on April 5, 2021. Well, as much as it feels disappointing to see a once-successful smartphone brand exiting the market, the mounting losses left no choice for LG.
LG’s Smartphone Division Shall Cease To Exist
The South Korean brand earlier hinted at selling its smartphone business, but its failing business had no takers. And now, finally, the company is shutting it down. The smartphone division of LG shall reportedly cease to exist after the April 5 announcement. According to The Korea Times, LG will be relocating employees from the smartphone division to other departments.
The report quotes an internal source at the company:
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.
The final announcement will be made at the company’s board meeting slated for April 5, 2021.
Like we said at the beginning of this article, we have seen this coming. LG’s smartphone business was facing continuous failures for several years now. Earlier this week, a Twitter account named @FrontTron claimed that LG could be shifting its employees from the smartphone division to the home appliances division.
It goes without saying that LG’s exit would jolt the industry that is still reeling from the shock of Huawei’s planned banishment from the US and at the hands of Google. Although LG was not flourishing in the segment, it still was one of the top three players in North America and among the top five players in Latin America. It registers presence in other regions too.
No Further Updates For LG Smartphone Users?
The same Twitter user also claimed that LG is ‘unlikely’ to continue its software updates post-shutdown. Although it looks plausible, we still need to wait to get some official word from the company on April 5.
If it turns out to be accurate, LG users would be left in a fix without a fix. Not receiving regular updates, including incremental security updates, shall render their devices unsafe from malicious attacks. And for the buyers of any recently launched LG phones, it could be a breach of promise from the brand as they promise for at least two years of updates. So, it would be interesting to see how LG handles the entire matter.
Some media outlets tried to reach out to LG for some confirmation about the news, but the company refused to respond to ‘speculations.’ Well, we better wait for Monday to get a confirmation. If we don’t, this would mean that some media outlets in Korea are baiting on LG’s exit from the smartphone business.
