LG has plans to exit the smartphone business and it is already in talks with potential suitors to buy the smartphone unit. After recent reports of LG’s internal memo informing staffers related to this step, Korean dailies have reported that the company has plans to sell the smartphone segment to a Vietnamese conglomerate, VinGroup.
Business Korea says that VinGroup has the best offer on the table for Korean tech giant’s phone business. The Vietnamese group has been already producing LG phones as an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM). It is the third largest phone maker in Vietnam after Samsung and Oppo.
Korea Times recently also reported that continuous losses are one of the main reasons why LG plans to offload its mobile unit and has suffered a slump of around 23 quarters. The company has expended around $4.2 billion in that time over operating losses.
LG has already been a longstanding Android device maker and it has been able to give us some memorable hits that includes the Nexus 5 and the G series of phones. The firm has also been exploring more unique designs like the LG Wing and the upcoming LG Rollable. While we marvel at these limited edition phones, the reality is that they have not been able to help float the business of LG for a while now.
The Korean tech giant has planned to withdraw from the business, but on the other hand, reports say that devices under that label might not go away. We might get to see a couple of models every year like the other fallen smartphone brands like HTC and Blackberry.