Other requests include residents seeking assistance with cleaning mud accumulation, restoring damaged furniture
South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc said on Monday it will wind down its loss-making mobile division - a move that is set to make it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market.
Its decision to pull out will leave its 10 per cent share in North America, where it is the No. 3 brand, to be gobbled up by smartphone titans Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.
The division has logged nearly six years of losses totalling some $4.5 billion, and dropping out of the fiercely competitive sector would allow LG to focus on growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices and smart homes, it said in a statement.
In better times, LG was early to market with a number of cell phone innovations including ultra-wide angle cameras and was once in 2013 the world’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer behind Samsung and Apple.
But later, its flagship models suffered from both software and hardware mishaps which combined with slower software updates saw the brand steadily slip in favour. Analysts have also criticised the company for lack of expertise in marketing compared to Chinese rivals.
Currently its global share is only about 2 per cent. It shipped 23 million phones last year which compares with 256 million for Samsung, according to research provider Counterpoint.
In addition to North America, it does have a sizeable presence in Latin America, where it ranks as the No. 5 brand.
“In South America, Samsung and Chinese companies such as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi are expected to benefit in the low to mid-end segment,” said Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities.
While other well-known mobile brands such as Nokia, HTC and Blackberry have also fallen from lofty heights, they have yet to disappear completely.
LG’s smartphone division - the smallest of its five divisions, accounting for about 7 per cent of revenue - is expected to be wound down by July 31.
In South Korea, the division’s employees will be moved to other LG Electronics businesses and affiliates while elsewhere decisions on employment will be made at the local level.
LG will provide service support and software updates for customers of existing mobile products for a period of time which will vary by region, it added.
Talks to sell part of the business to Vietnam’s Vingroup fell through due to differences about terms, sources with knowledge of the matter have said.
Other requests include residents seeking assistance with cleaning mud accumulation, restoring damaged furniture
Many students wade through waist-deep water to head to neighbour's house for online classes
Hospitals brace for uptick in typhoid and bacterial infections; and mosquito- and fly-borne diseases like dengue
With 30% of their inventory damaged, owners of Preloved Books now face the daunting task of rebuilding from scratch
Five-time champions hold their nerve to claim victory by nine runs in the final over at Chandigarh
Natasha Abbas is a British civil engineer who co-founded North 51, a project management consultancy in Dubai
People who are assessing your qualifications can quickly tell the difference between an authentic life narrative and a third-party account
Arab-Canadian public speaking coach and author of The Million Dollar Speaker Maher Elusini on how to make your speech command value for time and money