The board of directors of the South Korean electronics manufacturer LG has said, in a statement in Seoul on Monday, that it has approved the closure of its loss-making mobile phone business and the shutdown is expected to be completed by the end of July.
The statement said: “LG’s strategic decision to exit the incredibly competitive mobile phone sector will enable the company to focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
“It will also focus on business-to-business solutions as well as platforms and services,’’ the statement added.
LG wants to “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 are to be retained and applied to existing and future products, the company said.
LG’s withdrawal from the smartphone business had been on the horizon for some time.
