South Korean manufacturer, LG, exited the smartphone market in April last year. This company is the first major smartphone brand to exit the smartphone market this year. Its exit was due to the consistent and consecutive losses for six years. Unlike its home appliances business, LG fell behind in the fierce competition in the smartphone market. LG is a long-forgotten brand in the smartphone market but its report is current news because of its perceived affiliation with Google.
Google recently released an advertisement and the opening paragraph is “113 reasons you should switch to Google Pixel when the maker of your old phone stops making phones”. Although Google did not name LG in the ad, this passage clearly implies that “LG has withdrawn from the mobile phone market, and old users can consider switching to Pixel phones”.
Now, it appears that LG is also in support of its users porting to Pixel smartphones. Today, an official email was sent to LG user groups with the subject of “Providing Exclusive Offers for Our Loyal Customers”. The content of the email shows that LG provides customers with a discount of $65 for Google Pixel 5a. Customers can enjoy this discount when placing an order through the Google online store. The deadline for the discount is November 15th, 2021.
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Google will not be the first to attempt to claim LG’s market share. Apple and Samsung are also jostling for its market share. LG officially exited the smartphone market on July 31st, 2021. The company has been struggling for many years. It has posted consecutive losses in its smartphone business for many quarters. The company first left the Chinese smartphone market but this was only an indication of things to come. According to Counterpoint Research, LG is the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in South Korea last year. The smartphone market share of this company is about 13%. For now, Samsung leads the South Korean smartphone market with a 65% market share. Apple follows as a distant second with a market share of 20%.
Although Samsung and Apple are making moves to take LG’s place, they will not be the only ones jostling for this position. Analysts predict that Xiaomi will launch mid-range smartphones with high-quality specifications for local consumers. According to Counterpoint Research, smartphones priced at $400 or less account for 41% of the Korean smartphone market in 2020, up from 34% a year ago. Xiaomi will use these devices, probably from the Redmi brand to fight for LG’s market share. Now, Google is throwing its hat into the ring for LG’s smartphone market share.