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05 April 2021Lg Electronics sells 2.52% on the stock exchange in Seoul, after having spread the news that it

will stop producing smartphones

due to the losses of the business unit recorded in the last five years. 



The South Korean technology company has announced the closure of its global mobile phone division.

"LG's strategic decision to exit the telephony sector - reads a note - will allow the company to focus more resources on other growth areas such as

electric vehicle

components

, connected devices,

smart homes

,

robotics

, l '

artificial intelligence

and business solutions together with platforms and services ".



It was specified that" currently available LG smartphones will continue to be sold, as well as guaranteed customer support and software updates for a certain period of time, based on 'geographical area. "



The gradual closure of the smartphone business is expected to be completed by July 31. Yet LG smartphones have known better times and even today the products are popular in the United States (where 

rival Chinese brands such

as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi do not have much presence due to troubled bilateral relations) and in Latin America. 



The South Korean company had come to market with a number of mobile phone innovations, including

ultra wide-angle cameras

and, at its peak in 2013, had become the

third

smartphone

maker

in the world behind Samsung and Apple



The problems started when the top models had both software problems

re than hardware, but analysts believe that the coup de grace for mobile phones was the lack of speed in

marketing strategies

compared to Chinese rivals, which made many competitors disappear from the market while brands such as Nokia, HTC and Blackberry were very resized without disappearing completely.



According to market research firm Counterpoint, the current global share of South Korean smartphones is around

2%

.

In 2020, including the pandemic, it shipped 23 million phones, up from Samsung's 256 million.



In South Korea, employees of the suppressed division will be transferred to other companies and affiliates of Lg Electronics, while in other countries, decisions will be made locally.

Some experts who followed a video conference by LG said that the company intends to keep its technology patents on 4G and 5G and researchers committed to developing

6G technologies

.