Goodbye LG: I never knew ye

 

News broke today, April 5th, 2021, that LG is shutting down its mobile division. It's important to state the facts of what's happened to LG mobile, its decline, its accomplishments, and what it meant to the industry. It's hard to say goodbye and even harder to fill the space LG is leaving behind. Goodbye LG, I never knew ye.  

 
 

Our first point is the decline of LG: why are they abandoning their mobile division? For years LG phones had been in decline with marketing taking a huge hit as its TV and appliance divisions demanded more attention. Although LG was exceedingly popular at the low-end carrier level they simply didn't compete with Samsung and Apple at the high-end carrier level. It's a chicken-egg problem, their hardware and software (maybe not software) were competitive, however without marketing and the carrier deals that comes from it, people just didn't know or acknowledged LG phones. Without sales they were forced to cut down on marketing to survive, without marketing no one bought LG phones, and since no one bought LG phones they continued to struggle to survive. Even worse, tech media started dropping LG from review lists, and when reviews did arrive LG was never given the fair shake it needed.  

Image Credit: The Verge

However, I still think its biggest fault was software. When I was shopping for a new phone (circa 2019) I never considered LG because their update policy was so unreliable, I couldn't even think of using one. The interface was less of a problem, I still use a custom launcher to this day (much to my brother's chagrin), but the way LG phones could receive just 1 update when 2 were promised just killed them for me. The most unfortunate part is that LG seemed to fix this with G8 and V60 from the past year, I never really got to test or even touch those phones. Perhaps a more minimalist UI a focus on simplicity might have won me over.  

 
 

Maybe LG was too unique to handle. LG was a pioneer of alternative form-factors with devices such as the Wing, Dual-screen case, and the LG rollable (possibly now dead, big sad). Those were just LG's latest with years of rich history and form-factor design. Ultra-wide camera lenses? That was LG's doing. QHD screens? LG again. Tech companies basically let LG flounder and then copied them for their next phone, and I don't blame them. I sometimes feel that LG was too focused on making that next notable feature that they forgot how to sell phones. The fact that I never even considered LG is testament to how far the phone is from the customer.  

Image credit: PC World

I still admire LG for being different and for being bold enough to try innovative designs, form-factors, and technologies. Even when they shipped us gimmicks, I still appreciated how they kept the headphone jack alive with enhancements and quad DACs. They allowed you to use your phone as more than just a phone with the split-screen case and desktop interface when plugged into an HDMI source. LG phones were always different in the best ways, in the ways that mattered.  

Image Credit: The Verge

 
 

Finally, we come to what it means for the industry and for the market. It's come to the point that when asked about Android brands I could barely think of names. LG leaving leaves a huge gap in the lower-end and in the high-end. Samsung is trying to grab the lower end with its A line whilst OnePlus is trying to undercut with the 9 and 9 Pro. Without LG who do we have left? It feels like it's just Samsung and OnePlus and that's not good. Less competition lets companies slack off and deliver worse products while raising prices. The reason I choose android is because of choice, take away companies like LG and Android might as well be the iPhone.  

We lost a special brand. Farewell LG.  

 

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