LG Electronics is moving to expand its smartphone offering after experiencing success with the recently launched 5G Velvet model in Australia.
The CEO of LG Electronics has vowed to improve the company’s mobile offering with the company benefiting from the backlash against Chinese smartphones, such as Oppo, Huawei, Realme and Vivo – which consumers are avoiding as they are seen as a security risk and in retaliation to the backlash against Australian products by the Chinese Communist Party.
Kwon Bong-seok said LG Electronics is “working hard” to create a turnaround in its struggling mobile business and that several new models including premium models will be launched in Australia in 2021.
“We are improving by reinforcing our cost competitiveness, and we plan to make quality improvements next year with growth in the premium sector,” Kwon told reporters after the 15th Electronics and IT Day event in Seoul.
LG’s mobile business has been in the red since the second quarter of 2015, though its losses have been narrowing recently.
Its mobile unit posted an operating loss of 148.4 billion won ($136 million) in the third quarter, improving 58.1 billion won from the previous quarter.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Kwon emphasized that LG plans to make a turnaround in its mobile business in 2021.
Despite a prolonged slump in the mobile business, LG had a solid overall performance in the third quarter on the back of pent-up demand for its home appliances.
Its third-quarter operating income stood at 959 billion won, up 22.7 percent on-year, while sales reached 16.9 trillion won, rising 7.8 percent over the same period. Both figures were record highs for the company in the third quarter.
“We have been under an emergency management system for quite a long time this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic,” he said. “But we are back to normal from the second half.”
