LG announces shutdown of smartphone making business

LG announced on Monday that it will be shutting down its smartphone making business after the board of directors approved the decision earlier that day.

The South Korean tech company said that it will exit the competitive market to focus its resources in areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.

“Moving forward, LG will continue to leverage its mobile expertise and develop mobility-related technologies such as 6G to help further strengthen competitiveness in other business areas. Core technologies developed during the two decades of LG’s mobile business operations will also be retained and applied to existing and future products,” it said in a statement.

The decision from the board comes after the company announced in January a review into the smartphone making unit and considered the possibility of selling it to a potential buyer.

The company said it would still offer handsets until the end of inventory and software for the existing phones for an unspecified period of time.

LG also said that the positions of the employees working in the smartphone business would be reviewed at a local level.

It’s public knowledge that its smartphone business has been performing poorly for the past few years after the rise in popularity of Chinese brands such as Huawei and Xiaomi that offer similar products for a cheaper price.