The’Chocolate Phone’ launched by LG Electronics in 2005. Chocolate phones sold more than 20 million units worldwide. / 2005-12-13 (Hankook Ilbo)
“I remember that LG Electronics missed the opportunity when switching from feature phones to smartphones, and raised its market position again when switching from 3G mobile communication to 4G. In recent years, excessive attempts at technological innovation have lost trust.”
Did you predict the situation two years later? The diagnosis made by Kwon Bong-seok, head of the mobile communication (MC) business division, who was seated at the new president of LG Electronics’ smartphone business in February 2019, at the first press conference after taking office was cold. At that time, LG Electronics also issued such a’reflection statement’, but in the end, it was not enough to be selected by the market.
In fact, LG Electronics’ mobile phone business did not fail from the beginning. The heyday of LG Electronics mobile phones was in the mid-2000s. At the time, LG Electronics started with’Chocolate Phone’ with a sensuous design,’Shine Phone’ and’Prada Phone’ in succession and placed them on the list of hit products.
In the case of chocolate phones, more than 20 million units were sold around the world, and the mobile phone business had driven LG Electronics’ overall performance. In the fourth quarter of 2005 when the chocolate phone was launched, the operating profit of LG Electronics’ MC division was KRW 217.4 billion, up 70% from the previous quarter.
However, on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, announced’iPhone’, the mobile phone ecosystem was completely upset. Nokia and Motorola, who were unable to respond quickly to this change, disappeared into history, and LG Electronics, which chose snacks rather than change, also entered a path of decline.
In 2011, LG Electronics, which gave Pantech the second place in the domestic smartphone market share and tasted’humiliation’, focused on developing the’G-series’. As the’G3′ released in 2014 exceeded 10 million units in sales, it received favorable reviews for’regaining the pride of the famous mobile phone family’. However, the problem was’G4′, which was released the following year. The G4 had a fatal problem called an’infinite boot’ phenomenon that automatically turns off and on. In addition, G4’s product cover was made of leather, and the structural limitation of performance degradation was pointed out because the heat generated from the smartphone could not be released outside.
Joon-ho Cho, head of LG Electronics’ MC Business Division (President), introduces’G4′ at a new product public event held at One World Trade Center in New York, USA on April 29, 2015. Provided by LG Electronics
On the other hand, Samsung Electronics solidified its No. 1 position in the global market by introducing a massively improved’Galaxy S6′ in 2015 due to the sluggishness of the’Galaxy S5′ released in 2014. Since then, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have taken a completely different path. Since 2015, when the G4 was released, LG Electronics has entered a long and long tunnel of deficit.
The’G5′ released in 2016 was a final blow. With the concept of a’modular smartphone’ that allows modules with necessary functions to be inserted and removed, the G5 has garnered attention from the global information technology (IT) industry. However, the initial interest turned to critical public opinion as a gap between modules was reported each time it was attached and detached.
As the quality controversy was not avoided for the second generation in a row, the products released afterwards were also not selected by consumers. Eventually, LG Electronics stopped producing the’G-series’ lastly with’G8′ in 2019. Since then, LG Electronics has introduced differentiated products such as’V50 ThinQ’, which connects the screen to the sides, and’Wing’ that rotates one of the two screens horizontally, but has not achieved significant success in the market.
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