LG may no longer release phones annually: Reports

It seems like we may no longer see annual smartphone releases from LG anymore. The Korea Herald reports that LG Electronics Vice Chairman, Cho Sung-jin stated during a press briefing at CES 2018 that the company will no longer set a regular timeline to launch smartphones. “We will unveil new smartphones when it is needed. But we will not launch it just because other rivals do,” said Sung-jin. The statement was in response to a question whether the company would launch the LG G7 smartphone. 

The move is most likely an attempt by the firm to shore up its finances. LG’s flagship devices are usually overshadowed by Samsung and Apple. Back in 2016, LG was the first company to launch a modular smartphone in the form of the LG G5. However, the modular system was poorly implemented, especially when compared to what Moto did with its Z-Series. LG has faced losses quarter-over-quarter for the tenth time in a row. 

Later, LG admitted that the LG G5 didn’t impress customers. LG India MD, Kim-Ki-Wan stated that the company was taking an internal call on the future of its modular smartphones. In fact, LG would end up scrapping its modular idea completely. The LG G6 featured no modular attachments whatsoever. Instead, it was the first mainstream smartphone to offer an 18:9 display aspect ratio. However, it featured a Snapdragon 821 chipset at a time when its competitors would sport Snapdragon 835 chipsets.

LG is expected to launch the G7 soon though. The smartphone was spotted on the company’s UK website and is tipped to sport Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0. This suggests that the company might once again be stuck with using last year’s flagship chipset. Further, there are reports that the company might retire the G-series of smartphones entirely in favor of a two-digit naming convention.

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