After struggling for survival in the smartphone market, LG eventually gave up. The company recently announced its exit from the global smartphone market. This means that the South Korean manufacturer will not be producing smartphones anymore. Recall that LG first quit the very competitive Chinese smartphone market. However, after years of consecutive losses globally, it will also exit the global smartphone market. Its exit will not be instant, it will be gradual. However, the company will complete its exit from the global smartphone market by July 2021.
According to TrendForce, LG’s problem in the market is pretty simple. The company can neither compete with Apple and Samsung for the high-end market nor can they beat Chinese mobile phone brands in the low-end market. LG’s original market is most likely to be grabbed by Samsung and OPPO.
The report points out that in order to avoid continued losses, LG ended its mobile phone business not unexpectedly. Presently, LG’s main markets for mobile phone products are in South Korea, Europe, and Southeast Asia. The expectations are that Samsung will claim its European and South Korean markets. However, Oppo will claim its emerging mid-and low-end mobile phone market in Southeast Asia.
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After the complete shutdown of LG’s smartphone business on July 31st, some of its smartphones will still be on the shelves. Since the second quarter of 2015, LG’s mobile phone business has been at a loss. Last year, the cumulative operating loss hit 5 trillion won (approximately $4.4 billion).
LG may still release the Android 12 update for some smartphones
Despite LG’s exit from the global smartphone market, many of its smartphones will still get the Android 11 update. In fact, some of its smartphones will get the Android 12 update if the reports so far are true. According to reports, if there are major issues during the Android 12 testing, LG may abandon its plans to release the update. According to LG, the update may follow Google’s distribution schedule and the performance of each device. This implies that LG will not be doing so much work on the update.
LG smartphones like LG Velvet, V60 ThinQ, and LG G7 One already have the Android 11 update. This year, smartphones like LG G8X, G8S, Velvet 4G, Wing, K52, and K42 should get the Android 11 update. If LG decides to release Android 12, only flagships that launched with Android 10 will get this update. The likes of LG Velvet, V60 ThinQ, and Wing belong to this class.