Of course, LG is also showing off with its roll-call phone, which is expected to launch at some point this year. However, this is likely to sit in the ultra-premium level, and may not be enough to reverse LG’s ever-waning market share, which fell to 1.7 percent in December 2020, according to StatCounter. In the same month, LG announced that it would go and contract the design and construction of its luxury phones to third-party ODM manufacturers.
In his message to employees, Kwon apparently said that some of the employees – possibly about 60 percent – would be reassigned to other parts of LG’s business. It’s not clear whether the other 40 percent will stay or let go in the much smaller mobile arm, though LG will likely have to retain some of the institutional knowledge. One of the reasons why Sony has kept its mobile division going for so long is to ensure that it can utilize the technologies used in phones for any future frontier of devices.
In 2016, Engadget asks when LG will finally lose patience with its loss-making mobile division after falling into a second, deep slump. The company successfully managed to return to profitability after a loss-making 2013, but when it slipped again in 2015, it never seemed to recover. After all, LG could not compete with (Korean competitor) Samsung’s marketing power, or the low cost offered by Chinese volume players such as Huawei and BBK, parent company of Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and Realme.
Updated January 20 at 06:30: The article has been updated to clarify the remarks of an LG representative to the Korea Herald.