SEOUL (REUTERS) – South Korea’s LG Electronics stated on Monday (April 5) it should finish manufacturing and gross sales of its loss-making smartphone division.
LG had introduced in January it was contemplating all choices for the enterprise after logging almost six years of losses totalling some US$4.5 billion (S$6.05 billion).
Talks to promote a part of the enterprise to Vietnam’s Vingroup fell via as a result of variations about phrases, sources with information of the matter have stated.
Early to market with numerous mobile phone improvements together with ultra-wide angle cameras, LG rose to turn out to be the world’s third-largest smartphone producer within the first half of 2013 behind Samsung Electronics and Apple.
However later, its flagship fashions suffered from each software program and {hardware} mishaps which mixed with slower software program updates noticed the model steadily slip in favour. Analysts have additionally criticised the corporate for lack of awareness in advertising in comparison with Chinese language rivals.
Whereas LG presently ranks because the No. 3 model in North America and No. 5 in Latin America by market share, globally its share is just about 2 per cent. It shipped 23 million telephones final yr which compares with 256 million for Samsung, in accordance with analysis supplier Counterpoint.
The division is the smallest of LG’s 5 divisions, accounting for simply 7.4 per cent of income within the fourth quarter.
LG is predicted to carry onto its cellular know-how to be used in its house home equipment enterprise and its burgeoning automobile elements enterprise. Late final yr it launched a three way partnership with automotive provider Magna Worldwide that can make key elements for electrical automobiles.
