LG Looking to Shut Down Smartphone Business After Failing to Find a Buyer

[cmaier]

What’s problematic about their tv’s? I’ve only heard good things.

It’s not really a bad play because they are literally loosing billions of dollars

I have an LG tv. Picture is great. Remote is terrible. And the tv needs someplace where I can just turn off all of the “smart” features. I don’t need my tv to pop up ads and notifications and all sorts of other crap when all I want to do is watch tv or stream via my Apple TV.

 

[gnasher729]

March towards? Man, we've been here for years already. Apple makes something stupid like ~66% of all worldwide mobile phone profits. Samsung is around ~20%. The remaining Android vendors fight over the ~14% that's left.

There have been quarters in the past where Apple and Samsung together made 102% of all profits.

 

[SFjohn]

In a world that made sense, Google would purchase the division and start producing decent phones again

I was under the impression that Google makes great Android Phones. Supposedly right up there with Samsung & Apple. No?

 

[msp3]

It's mind-boggling how people can keep on parroting the same armchair CEO ******** about some business decision or marketshare nonsense. The point of any business is to make a return, not make a billion things and make no money from them. Consumer surplus is a side benefit and independent of any consideration by suppliers.

As industries mature, rent (in the economic sense) goes to zero, meaning you have no above average returns (you can do better taking your money and investing in some other industry), and firms naturally exit the industry. There is some "natural" number of firms that a market can sustain, but fundamentally it eventually becomes a commodity business (just look at TVs, LG's real moneymaker comes from their OLEDs).

And let's not kid ourselves, non-iPhone phones are nothing more than a commodity, and no one except Apple makes rent (because Apple can practice monopolistic competition like the way restaurants do). No sane company should want to enter this market, and all sane firms should consider exiting this market in pursuit of better opportunities elsewhere just like LG is doing.

 

[jjudson]

I think the next frontier with smartphones has to be open source Linux-based products. It's the differentiator that will set them apart from the big two. LG should have dipped their toes in that before heading down the "me too" path...

 

[bayportbob]

I had to check the date on my computer to tell me that it was not April 1st. a somewhat shocking development but they were a mite heavy on the cheap models sold in burner phone category. was a decent run but like everything, time is not kind to all.

 

[jonnysods]

Love these posts pretending to care about employees people don't even know personally. Don't worry about LG it's only their cellular division. I'm sure LG will find positions for those employees. LG in general isn't closing. 🙄

Pretending to care? I don't want to see anyone anywhere lose their jobs - it impacts every economy and family. I don't know them personally, doesn't mean it doesn't concern me. I don't know almost 7 billion people but I get concerned when things happen to them.

And you just assume LG will find another area for them to work? What happens if they work in an entirely different region? Companies lay off people all the time.

 

[Maconplasma]

Pretending to care? I don't want to see anyone anywhere lose their jobs - it impacts every economy and family. I don't know them personally, doesn't mean it doesn't concern me. I don't know almost 7 billion people but I get concerned when things happen to them.

And you just assume LG will find another area for them to work? What happens if they work in an entirely different region? Companies lay off people all the time.

And you're just assuming they're gonna lose their jobs. Just stop. No reason for you to create a problem that you have no idea will exist, especially for people you don't even know. It's very common for companies to reposition people to different departments when they shut down certain divisions of a company. Your concern for people in this stance makes no sense and there's no real reason for it. It would make more sense if LG stated they had to lay off people due to them shutting down their cellular division. There was nothing mentioned about this so just calm down about it and worry about your own well being. I didn't see a single person here concerned when Apple had to close stores due to the pandemic and had to lay off a crap load of employees. All people here cared about is they couldn't get their Macs and iPhones fixed. 🙄

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I was under the impression that Google makes great Android Phones. Supposedly right up there with Samsung & Apple. No?

Not the most recent ones. Their prior phones did seem to push the state of the Android art, but, not their most recent ones.

 

[britboyj]

... Volkswagen?

 

[Septembersrain]

This is sad. I really love their devices with the Quad DAC in them. I will always love wired headphones. As with all things I enjoy, it becomes obsolete.

 

[Dav_Daddy]

Damn this sucks! I loved all my BlackBerry's, then I was a devoted Nexus user, now LG phones are all I use. Started with my LG Nexus, then V10, V20, and my current V35. I don't know what I'll do now?

I can't stand Samsung phones, I'm not a total tool so an iPhone is out. I guess I'll be overpaying for a Pixel, blech.

 

[Septembersrain]

Damn this sucks! I loved all my BlackBerry's, then I was a devoted Nexus user, now LG phones are all I use. Started with my LG Nexus, then V10, V20, and my current V35. I don't know what I'll do now?

I can't stand Samsung phones, I'm not a total tool so an iPhone is out. I guess I'll be overpaying for a Pixel, blech.

The V60 is pretty solid. Amazing battery life. Only thing is the display isn't the greatest tech. I love this device though. Got it used on Swappa for about $400. I'm sure it's less now.

 

[Scotticus]

I was under the impression that Google makes great Android Phones. Supposedly right up there with Samsung & Apple. No?

For awhile, yes, but not recently. They've essentially given up the fight to Samsung and Apple, especially this year. The Pixel 5 is a mid-range phone that was priced at a low-flagship level. Hell, the processor they put in it was actually less powerful than the processor they had in the Pixel 4.