LG To Debut 2 New Flagship Phones In Bid To Revive Mobile Division
South Korean electronics giant LG will introduce two new flagship phones this year in an attempt to boost its mobile division's flagging sales.
In its fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 financial results report, the tech manufacturer noted that "The smartphone marketplace is expected to be increasingly competitive in 2016 due to anticipated premium models from competitors and further price competition within the mass tier space."
"The introduction of two new flagship models and a more cost-competitive value chain is expected to improve profitability in 2016," it concluded.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
According to CNET, the report, released Tuesday, revealed that despite expected sales from the holidays, the company's mobile division experienced a significant loss of 43.8 billion South Korean Won (or $36.4 million) during the last quarter of 2015, marking a $56 million drop in profit from the fourth quarter of 2014.
Like smartphone manufacturers Motorola, Sony, Microsoft, and HTC, LG faces considerable market share losses due to smartphone giants Apple and Samsung. LG expects the situation to get worse this year as its competitors release more premium models.
To alleviate the situation, the company will launch two new flagship models, one of which is expected to be the LG G5. The G5 follows last year's well-received G4 and is tipped for launch at the 2016 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in late February. The G5 is said to have an all-metal chassis and a dual rear camera.
According to the CNET report, LG has confirmed that it will unveil a new flagship phone at the MWC, though it did not reveal which model will be launched.
The other flagship phone LG is releasing this year may be the follow-up to its V10, which reportedly sold 450,000 units in less than two months in the US. The LG V11 is expected to arrive later this year, roughly a year after the V10's October 2015 launch.
