The obstacles have been such that the company announced the definitive closure of its cell phones worldwide.

Already in January, the South Korean electronics giant said he was considering all the options for the division, after registering almost six years of losses that total a total of US $ 4.Approximately 500 million.

Goodbye will affect all regions in which he has a presence.Also to Latin America, its third largest market in terms of sales.

Until June 2020, LG maintained a 4.5% market share, although far from 42.5% that the leader has, Samsung.

"The strategic decision of LG to get out of the incredibly competitive sector of mobile telephony will allow the company to concentrate resources in growth areas such as components of electric vehicles, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and company to business solutions, soas platforms and services, "said the company in a statement.

But apart from losses, the consulting firm Counterpoint blames this closure to "when the era of smartphones began, LG adopted the Microsoft operating system instead of Android and made a relatively late entry to the Google operating system".

That, according to experts, is a factor that would have made their cell phones lose attractive.

"Despite the launch of some innovative devices, LG failed to captivate consumers, which also caused a change in strategy," says the consultant.

To all this we must add that LG decided to fight in the high and medium range segment of smartphones, one of those who has the most rivals and that the company itself described as "incredibly competitive".

But what will happen to those who have an LG model?

Normal

The first thing to keep in mind is that the closure will not assume that any cell phone will stop working overnight and on that side, its owners can be calm.

The brand confirmed that in the coming months it will offer support to those who have a famous South Korean firm for its televisions and other appliances.

"We will provide service support and software updates for customers of existing products for a period of time that will vary according to the region," he said in reference to laws on valid guarantees in each country.

And although the liquidation of the mobile phone business is expected on July 31, the inventory of some existing models can still be available after that date.

The smartphone business is the smallest of the five LG divisions and represents only 7.4% of its income.

Currently, its world mobile phone market share is about 2%.

LG still has a solid consumer electronics business, particularly with appliances and televisions.

In fact, it is the second best -selling television brand in the world after Samsung.

In December, it launched a joint business with the Magna International automotive provider to manufacture key electric cars components.

"In the future, LG will continue to take advantage of its mobile experience and develop mobility -related technologies, such as 6G, to help further strengthen competitiveness in other commercial areas," added a spokesman.

The analysts said that the South Korean rival Samsung and Chinese companies such as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi will probably benefit more from the LG market out.

Smartphone manufacturers had problems during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sales fell 10% in 2020, mainly due to closures that limited the opening of stores.

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