LG Smartphone Line Looking To Shut Down After Failing To Find Buyer

LG is looking to shut down its entire line of mobile phones after failing to find a suitable buyer.

The South-Korean company announced in January of 2021 that it was looking at the option of exiting the smartphone scene through various means including sale, withdrawal, or downsizing.

LG, which was once a force to be reckoned with as the world's third-largest smartphone maker, competing directly with giants like Apple and Samsung, quickly saw things turnaround badly as business started to derail, leading to a total loss of over $4.5 billion over the past five years. As of December 2020, LG's smartphone market share stands at just about 1.7%.

The company launched its first Android smartphone in 2009, and its first tablet in 2011. 

It was reported that LG was in talks with companies like 

Vietnam's Vingroup and carmaker Volkswagen with regards to selling the smartphone part of the business, however, there wasn't much progress in negotiations. 

With no buyer in sight, one of the solutions LG is said to be considering is to cut its losses by shutting down in order not to incur even more losses.

The company is expected to announce whatever decision is reached concerning the close after a board meeting in April.

Regardless of what decision the company arrives at, it has assured employees that they'll retain their employment. It will likely redistribute workers to other divisions of the company like the Household Appliances, Energy Solution, and Automotive divisions.

If LG does shut down, it will join the league of companies who dropped out of the smartphone race, examples include brands like HTC, who after building some of the earliest Android devices, sold most of their smartphone operations to Google and quit the market.

Another company is Blackberry, after taking six years to merge iOS and Android OS, the Blackberry 10 OS was unable to perform satisfactorily in the market, causing the corporation to quit the business and license their brand to TLC.

After pioneering mobile devices, Nokia as well couldn't keep up with the pace of the modern world and sold its phone section to Microsoft. Microsoft also ended its smartphone line, the Windows phone.