South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said on Monday, 5 April, said that it is officially quitting the smartphone business.
In a statement, the company said that its decision to quit the business will “enable it to focus on resources in growth areas such as EVs, smart devices, home products, robotics and artificial intelligence”. The decision comes soon after LG suffered huge losses to the tune of $4.5 billion.
The company informed that it will continue to sell the existing model such as Wing, Velvet, Q-series, W-series, and K-series until the inventory exhausts. Meanwhile, 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”, the company said in a statement.
Speaking about layoffs, the company said that details related to employment will be determined at the local level. A previous report suggested that the company might decide to move its employees to other departments.
The complete wind down of the mobile phone business is expected to be completed by 31 July 2021, although inventory of some existing models may still be available after that.
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