LG started the mobile phone business in 1995 under the’Hwatong’ brand. The brand name was settled as Cyon through Freeway. There was a time when LG Electronics cell phones were’going well’. This is before the full-scale spread of smartphones to Korea in the 2010s. LG Electronics’ mobile phone’CYON’, along with Samsung Electronics”Anycall’, divided the Korean feature phone market and made its mark in the global market.
LG’s first mobile phone’Hwatong’. Captured in a commercial video in 1995.
Chocolate phone, Prada phone’highest’
The representative work, the hit work, is the’Chocolate Phone’ released in November 2005. The red touchpad light harmonized with the black case reminiscent of chocolate bars received praise for being’luxurious’. The thickness was also 14.9mm thin. Most consumers, who said they were interested in fashion, had chocolate phones in their hands. In the fourth quarter of 2005, the operating profit of the MC division, which is in charge of mobile phones, recorded 2174 billion won. This is a 70% increase from the previous quarter. In the first half of 2007, the accumulated sales exceeded 10 million units, creating the’myth of LG mobile phones’.
LG Electronics Chocolate Phone. Hankyung DB
Baton was taken over by Pradafon in May 2007. Prada Phone is a mobile phone that the world-class luxury brands Prada and LG Electronics worked with from planning to marketing. It was released at the highest price of ’88 million won’ at the time, but it gained great popularity with a 3 inch large touch screen, 12.9mm thinness, and ultra light weight of 95g.
Since then,’Beauty Phone’ (December 2007) equipped with a 5 megapixel camera,’Lollipop Phone’ (2009 3 May launch) also made a mark in LG Electronics’ mobile phone history.
LG Electronics Prada Phone. Hankyung DB
Feature phone sticking to the smart phone era
LG Electronics’ mobile phone business began with dark luck in 2010. When Apple released the iPhone in 2007, the’smart phone era’ came, but LG Electronics turned away from the trend of the times. From 2009, the popularity of smartphones in Korea increased, but LG Electronics was still holding on to feature phones. Representative examples are the release of’New Chocolate Phone’ in September 2009 and’Lollipop 2’in February 2010.
Consumers turned away. The MC division in charge of mobile phones at LG Electronics recorded a loss of 130 billion won in the second quarter of 2010.
The’New Chocolate Phone’ launched by LG Electronics in 2009. Hankyung DB
The situation was different from rival Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics fought a war without gunfire for years over the smartphone and tablet markets with Apple. It was Apple that came out with the iPhone, but Samsung started to’fast following’ (chase strategy) with the’Galaxy’ series ahead.
Samsung Electronics surpassed Apple in 2012 and rose to the top of the global smartphone market. It was evaluated as a’great reversal’. In 2010, it ranked fourth after Nokia, Apple, and Rim with 8.0% market share, but exceeded the 30% market share in two years due to the popularity of Galaxy.
LG Electronics just watched Samsung Electronics’ emergency. The market response was delayed one step at a time. Starting with the Optimus Q in June 2010, the’Optimus’ series was put on the market for three years, but the reaction was cold. The originality seen in the chocolate phone and Prada phone on LG Electronics’ smartphone has disappeared.
There is also an analysis that it was festering inside. It is pointed out that the Vice Chairman Abuse, who served as the CEO of LG Electronics from January 2007 to September 2010, focused on marketing and neglected to strengthen technology through R&D.
Aiming to reverse, but being pushed by Apple’s Samsung Electronics
LG Electronics abandoned the brand name’Optimus’ in August 2013. Instead,’G’ was put on the front. LG Electronics, who is proud of its design, introduced’G2′, which greatly enhanced its design, UI (user interface), and functions. The market response was okay. The MC business division succeeded in turning into a profit only for 7 quarters in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The evaluation of the’G3′ released in May 2014 was also positive. President Park Jong-seok, who was in charge of the MC business division at the time, declared that “the goal is to sell more than 10 million G3s,” and “we will achieve the third place in the world of smartphones.”
Joon-ho Cho, head of LG Electronics’ MC business division, introducing the G4 at a smartphone launch event held in New York, USA in April 2015. The back is brown natural leather. yunhap news
The’jungheunggi’ ended shortly. LG Electronics was weak in breaking the market share barrier established by Apple and Samsung Electronics. President Joon-ho Cho, a’marketing expert’, who took over as the head of the MC business division in March 2015 following President Park Jong-seok, could not turn the trend.
As a’marketing strategist’, President Cho continued to show innovative products that were not available until then. ‘G4’ chose natural leather as the cover material. ‘G5′ was the first’modular’ product for a smartphone. When the button on the bottom side is pressed, the battery part is removed. Consumers who looked at it strangely did not feel great merit in the product. In the G4, the leather case caused heat problems. The G5’s modular structure brought about a’open’ phenomenon.
Afterwards, on the’V10′, he threw the number of matches by placing two cameras on the front. When the’V20′ was released, the audio function’Hi-Fi Quad DAC’ was put on the front. He emphasized that he would make the original sound feel as much as possible.
LG Electronics G5 smartphone. The model emphasizes a’modular’ structure in which the battery can be separated. Hankyung DB
Until the Chinese phone offensive…Two hands raised due to deficit for 23 consecutive quarters
It didn’t work for consumers. “It’s peculiar, but I don’t know if it’s a technology that consumers really need.” Since 2019, it has released’differentiated products’ such as’LG Wing’ with a horizontal screen and’LG V50S dual screen’ that can be used with two smartphone panels, but they have only caught interest.
As such, the MC division deficit, which started in the second quarter of 2015, continued for 23 consecutive quarters until the fourth quarter of last year. During this period, LG Electronics’ MC business division was headed by President Jo Jun-ho Cho, Vice President Jung-Hwan Hwang, President Bong-Seok Kwon (currently CEO), and vice-president Lee Yeon-mo, but the reversal failed. In premium phones, it couldn’t exceed Apple and Samsung Electronics, and in the mid- to low-end market, it fell behind Chinese brands.
I finally made a decision. LG Electronics President Kwon Bong-seok sent an in-house message on the 20th, suggesting the sale and reduction of business, saying, “We are keeping all possibilities open and carefully examining the direction of business operation.” With a cumulative deficit of 5 trillion won and a market share of 1%, it is evaluated as’an unavoidable choice’.
Reporter Hwang Jeong-soo [email protected]