There’s one less phone maker in Australia, and indeed the rest of the world, as LG pulls the plug on its mobile phone ambitions.
Despite coming up with some of the more unique ideas for smartphones, LG is bowing out of the mobile phone market, it seems. The rumours had been circulating for some time, but nothing had been confirmed until this week, as LG announces it’s departing phones not just in Australia, but also the world.
The news comes as LG decides to shift some of its focus to other areas, such as connected devices, smart homes, robotics, AI, components for electric vehicles, and more. Pushing ahead, LG says it will use its expertise in mobile to help develop technologies such as 6G, among other things.
However it will wind down LG phones, leaving the current inventor of LG phones for sale, and provide support and software updates for existing LG phones, though won’t likely make any others available.
That means you might want to lower any expectations for devices such as the LG Wing to be released in Australia, especially since LG’s mobile business is expected to be wound down by July 31.
LG Australia told Pickr that current customers would continue to receive updates and support, which is good news for people who own an LG phone locally, with a spokesperson noting that:
LG will continue to support local phones in terms of updates, security fixes and other technical support. We are working through the details at the moment, but wanted to reassure customers that we’ll be meeting all of our obligations under Australian consumer laws.
That’s largely expected, and is inline with what Panasonic did when it left the TV market in Australia recently. However it does mean future models won’t be released here, and seems as though the world has just lost some of the more unusual ideas in the phone world, such as that upcoming dual-screen Wing phone, and that dual-screen case that came with the V50.
UPDATE: Story updated with a comment from LG Australia.
