Earlier this week, LG Electronics officially announced that it will exit the smartphone market after years of consecutive losses. The company’s Mobile Communications (MC) department will no longer produce new devices. However, some of its pre-existing smartphones will still be on the shelve. The reason for quitting the mobile phone business is the long-term sluggish financial; report and fierce competition in the industry.
According to Yonhap News Agency, although it announced its withdrawal from the smartphone business, South Korea’s LG Electronics said it will provide extended software upgrades for its smartphones. LG’s mobile device operating system (OS) update guarantee will be extended for one year. LG’s high-end smartphone users can now get three years of operating system upgrades. However, its mid-to-low-end phones can get up to two years of upgrades.
According to LG, the closure of its smartphone business will not be abrupt, it will be a gradual process. However, the company clearly states that the closure should be complete by July 31st, 2021. After this date, a few LG smartphones will still be in the market. However, the company will not produce new devices.
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According to data from Counterpoint Research, LG shipped 24.7 million smartphones last year, down 13% year-on-year. It is the ninth-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world with a market share of 2%.
LG will still offer Android 11 and Android 12 updates
According to the company, its Android 11 update schedule remains valid. It will continue to release the update to its smartphones according to the schedule. In addition, the company plans to release the Android 12 update for some devices. The South Korean manufacturer warns that when testing the update, its system plan may follow Google’s distribution schedule and the performance of each device. This suggests that the company will not be doing so much work on the update.
Presently, smartphones like LG Velvet, V60 ThinQ, and G7 One already have the Android 11 update. Other phones that are expected to be updated later this year include LG G8X, G8S, Velvet 4G, Wing, K52, and K42.
LG Rollable phone gets radio certification in South Korea
LG has some pretty innovative smartphones just like the “Wing”. The LG Rollable was supposed to be the first smartphone with a rollable display in the market. However, as the company makes its exit from the smartphone market, the fate of this device is hanging in a balance. Nevertheless, the LG Rollable recently got radio certification in South Korea. This sparks speculation that the company will still release this device after all.
