After struggling to survive in the smartphone market, LG eventually gave up. The company recently announced its withdrawal from the global smartphone market. This means that the South Korean manufacturer will no longer produce smartphones. We will remind that LG first exited the highly competitive Chinese smartphone market. However, after consecutive years of global losses, it will also exit the global smartphone market. But its exit will not be instantaneous, it will be gradual. The company will complete its exit from the global smartphone market by July 2021.
According to TrendForce, LG's problem in the market is quite simple. The company cannot compete with Apple and Samsung for the high-end market, nor can it beat the Chinese mobile phone brands in the low-end market. LG's original market is likely to be taken over by Samsung and OPPO.
The report said that to avoid further losses, LG ended its mobile phone business unexpectedly. Currently, LG's main markets for mobile phones are in South Korea, Europe and Southeast Asia. Samsung is expected to compete in the European and South Korean markets. And Oppo will announce its mid-range and low-end mobile phone market in Southeast Asia.
After LG shuts down its smartphone business completely on July 31, some of its smartphones will still be on the shelves. LG's mobile phone business has suffered losses since the second quarter of 2015. Last year, the combined operating loss was 5 trillion won (about $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 receive the Android 11 update. In fact, some of its smartphones will receive the Android 12 update if the reports so far are true. According to reports, if Android 12 runs into major issues during testing, LG may abandon its plans to release the update. According to LG, the update may be subject to Google's rollout schedule and the performance of each device. This means LG won't be doing much work on the update.
LG smartphones such as the LG Velvet, V60 ThinQ and LG G7 One already have the Android 11 update. This year, smartphones such as the LG G8X, G8S, Velvet 4G, Wing, K52 and K42 should receive the Android 11 update. If LG decides to release Android 12, only flagships that released Android 10 will receive this update. Phones like the LG Velvet, V60 ThinQ and Wing belong to this class.
