LG Announced Closure of their Smartphone Business

The smartphone market has been getting fiercely competitive recently. The companies that are not able to keep up with the technological advancements and innovation have seen massive defeat in the business. LG however proved to be a tough competitor. The company started off well and was able to uphold its position as a tech giant in the market for a very long time.

LG devices started to lack innovation after a point of time and that’s when the smartphone sales graph came tumbling down. The company has now officially announced that by 31st July 2021 it will completely exit the smartphone market. Even after the exit, the company will continue to sell handsets until the inventory lasts and will provide software support for the existing lineup of smartphones for a certain period of time. Have a look at some of the major reasons why LG failed in the smartphone business.

Innovation without Right Implementation

LG’s smartphone business has been suffering from lack of innovation as the global market for mobile devices kept getting fiercer. At the time, LG had some of the most interesting smartphone features and innovations. LG Optimus 3D launched in 2011 and was the world’s first phone of this kind. Other revolutionary and unique smartphone designs LG came up with over the years include the LG G Flex, the world’s first flexible smartphone.

LG had launched a lot of the world's first smartphone innovations but the devices had major hardware and software issues. The customers accepted them at the early stages as there was no other option available. Even after fierce competition, LG failed to make amends in its half-baked innovation. The new experiments of LG smartphone models were limited in number and usefulness, and so, were unpopular with consumers too.

Meaningless Smartphone Naming Structure

LG’s smartphone naming structure has failed to create any excitement with its leaks. The naming system has long been due for a change. Unfortunately, LG did not realise this and most of their great-looking smartphones came along with some of the worst names.

LG G7 ThinQ, LG V60, LG W41, and LG K21 and just some of the few examples of meaningless and bad names that they picked for their series. The LG G7 was the year’s seventh edition, hence it was named “G7”, but it failed terribly at leaving a mark and making an impact by its name. As for the other series, there is absolutely no known reason for choosing random alphabets and using numbers to make a smartphone’s name.

Media Strategy at its worst

LG experienced a great downfall because of not shouting out the launch of a new phone. There was absolutely no buzz or excitement created in the market before the launch. This caused their launches to fly under the radar until some reviews boosted them up.

Samsung and Apple were seen marketing their new launches or upcoming launches in full swing whereas LG had taken a back seat. Apple and Samsung made use of YouTube Ads, Cinema screens, and other advertising platforms and were seen everywhere. On the other hand, LG smartphones never had big marketing campaigns behind them. They terribly lacked visual identity and market presence.

Delayed Software Updates

The average consumer wants a smartphone that makes their life easier and functions well while also updating and improving its services. LG suffered a poor track record of providing customers with major software updates on time even for their flagship devices.

The company was well aware of the issues faced by the users and had acknowledged them on multiple occasions. Their acknowledgment however did not change anything for the users and they continued to experience extremely slow and untimely software updates. Eventually, users lost faith in the usefulness and functionality of LG smartphones.

Irrelevant Price Setting

LG has given the market unique-looking smartphones loaded with features but failed to add a worthy price. The company tried to stay in the medium to high-end smartphones market but could not establish a decent range for the products. They used to launch the phone at a higher price and then reduce it according to the sale. The price-setting strategy made their devices seem unworthy to the users.

Conclusion

LG smartphones have left an enormous mark even if they weren’t successful. It bowed out to constant competition and couldn’t cope even after giving the market the best innovations. One of LG’s strongest points was their experimental attitude to create unique designs which they will hopefully continue with their other product lines in the future.