LG To Close Korean Phone Manufacturing Plants - Relying On Cheaper Overseas Factories
by Andrei Frumusanu on April 25, 2019 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- LG
- Smartphones
LG’s mobile division has seen a tough couple of years – the last few generation of smartphones haven’t been very successful for the company, and consequently the division has reportedly making a loss for 10 straight quarters.
According to Yonhap News Agency, LG is planning to shut down smartphone manufacturing in its domestic Korean Pyeongtaek plant and shifting production over to its existing facilities in Vietnam. Reportedly, the Korean plant was mostly responsible for high-end model production, which would include phones such as the recent V40 series or the new LG G8.
The move, while alleviating LG’s balance sheet and losses, doesn’t seem too promising in terms of the future of the mobile division, as it continues to struggle with delivering competitive products. We’ll be covering the LG G8 in a full review soon.
Update: LG has issued an official statement:
Relocating our smartphone manufacturing operation from Pyeongtaek, South Korea to the newly expanded campus in Haiphong, Vietnam is all part of a larger strategy to improve our mobile business and to raise our competitive edge in an evolving industry.
This relocation is part of a broader capital investment to expand LG’s smartphone business as the Haiphong Campus, which commenced operation in 2015 with a USD 1.5 billion investment, is ideally suited to take on the task of producing high quality, competitive products for the global market.
LG will benefit from the expansion of efficiencies and synergies as Haiphong was designed with the capability to manufacture a wide variety of products, from washing machines and TVs to auto infotainment systems and smartphones. The majority of the Pyeongtaek workforce will be relocated to Changwon, South Korea to support LG’s fast-growing home appliance business.
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Source: Yonhap News Agency
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cornandbeans - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link
Well, I do know one person in my family who uses LG phones, but only because it's the only non-Chinese brand which flagships are cheap (second-hand price of LG V30 is only around 180 USD in where we live).I have a handed down LG G6+ (H870DS) which I use as a PMP. It has a really nice audio quality thanks to its Quad DAC, but that's the only case I'd consider using a LG phone.
khanikun - Friday, April 26, 2019 - link
I had the LG G2A a long time ago. The hdmi port was nice. I have long since moved to Sony Xperias, but their last set of phones I completely skipped. I just want a flat, rectangular phone. Their X10 is back to the previous form I like though, although skinny and long shape. So looks a little weird.webdoctors - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link
The moto x4 amazon version is $120 at amazon right now. Its 8 cores, 2.2 GHz, 3 GB ram and 1980p screen with 3000mAh battery life and unlocked to work on all networks including CDMA! Pretty hard to compete when the low end is so feature packed.ads295 - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
I'd stay away from Moto after Lenovo took over, the phones aren't as reliable as they used to be (the first gen Moto G had exemplary build quality and stability).wrkingclass_hero - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link
I've been wanting to switch over to LG from Samsung for awhile now, but the poor display accuracy, lousy cameras, and poor software update history were all deal-breakers, so I've been waiting years for them to get their act together. Recent moves (even before this) lead me to believe that they were pulling out of the market, that was another thing I was wary of.nikon133 - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link
I'm with you with poor software updates.G7 ThinQ owner here. Yes, we exist. I am actually happy with the phone, hardware wise. I know of poor display accuracy, but frankly it is not hurting me in everyday use... and most people who checked phone commented on "nice screen". It is really bright (a lot of daylight outdoors use) and sharp... and RGBW configuration does seem to be gentler to battery when full brightness, as I'm yet to run out of juice during the day, even with smallish battery.
Camera is serviceable. Far from the best, but most of my phone photos end up on FB and such, downsized to 2MP... downsizing hides fine details loss and most other shortcomings. Not to be taken wrong, camera is far from the best, but not the worst either. It is just average. I', finding wide angle more useful than some other phones standard-tele combos, so it's not all that bad.
But software. TBH, software it was released with seems to be very stable, and it was easy to default everything to Google native apps (SMS, phone, contacts etc). Still, it really sits bad with me the fact that last security update for this version came in October 2018, and promised Q1 release for Pie update hasn't happened here in NZ (we share phone version with Australia, Hong Kong and China). Not only that, but trying to get any answer re security and OS updates ended up with experience similar to talking to a brick wall.
This phone model is released to a market with 1.5 billion people... surely worth some effort.
A guy here in Anandtech did have a point... better sticking with older but ironed out software, than getting buggy updates that take forever to be fixed (his experience with Sony phone). I guess it is true, it might be lesser evil - but it is still bad, even if less bad than getting half-baked update. And security updates should be no-brainer.
I'm thinking my next phone should be Google's own, or Android One.
LiverpoolFC5903 - Friday, April 26, 2019 - link
Personally i feel that LG flagships are criminally underrated and overlooked by reviewers due to bias from previous experiences or plain ignorance.Their software is much more usable than the crap supplied by the likes of Huawei, Oppo and Vivo and the additions are very useful. Their build quality is high and the phones look and feel good.
Their phones have excellent sound quality and 3.5mm ports, which is a massive plus point.
Software updates are overrated. Almost every single experience I have had with major updates has resulted in a worse performing and buggier device. My S9 is worse than it was with the stock firmware My older LGs all suffered in terms of battery or/and stability after version updates.
As long as security updates are provided, i am happy with not having the latest version. There is very little usability difference between Nougat and Pie for example apart from superficial gimmicks.
Gunbuster - Saturday, April 27, 2019 - link
LG is overlooked because they have spent about $4 marketing. No giving out hardware to reviewers, not supplying to influencers for giveaways, no launch marketing or giveaways themselves. They did the criminality to themselves.ads295 - Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - link
Waiting for just 1 manufacturer to make a small, simple phone with a great camera, 3.5mm jack, UFS storage, AMOLED display, a large battery and built to last. After 16nm performance is largely adequate for the average user on just about any chipset as long as the resolution is 1920x1080. I think it would sell. Tired of gimmickzsarvendravasha - Thursday, May 9, 2019 - link
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