I spent years toiling in the wordmines for a wide variety of tech publications before one decided that it would be a good idea to give me a salary and benefits. During my time as an independent contractor or as I fondly remember it, living on the cusp of poverty, I developed a lot of contacts across the tech industry. One of those contacts reached out to me today, with a whopper of a declaration:
From LG Electronics Inc:
…(LG) announced that it is closing its mobile business unit. The decision was approved by its board of directors earlier today.
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, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services.
Current LG phone inventory will continue to be available for sale. LG will provide service support and software updates for customers of existing mobile products for a period of time which will vary by region. LG will work collaboratively with suppliers and business partners throughout the closure of the mobile phone business. Details related to employment will be determined at the local level.
Moving forward, LG will 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 will also be retained and applied to existing and future products.
The wind down of the mobile phone business is expected to be completed by July 31, although inventory of some existing models may still be available after that.
I'm sorry to see that their sometimes weird and occasionally wonderful hardware won't be available anymore. LG brought a lot of innovation to the smartphone market. More often than not, the tech LG introduced was picked up by larger companies like Apple and Samsung to be used in more user-friendly ways. I'll miss the low that they showed to audio aficionados as well. No one did smartphone DACs as well as LG could. They made handsets that knew how to treat a pair of high-end headphones right.
Most of all, I'm bummed that there will be one less brand for consumers to consider when the time comes for them to invest in a new handset.
