Smartphones now account for nearly half of shipments
Korean manufacturer LG Electronics looks to have turned the corner in the smartphone sector following the domestic launch of its flagship Optimus G last month, latest trading results indicate.
In a surprising turnaround LG returned to profit for the third quarter with a record 7 million smartphones sold during the period, up 23 per cent from the previous three months. In recent years the world’s fifth-largest phonemaker by shipments has failed to keep pace with the likes of Apple and Asian rival Samsung. But with the successful launch last month of its flagship Optimus G running on faster LTE networks, LG’s mobile division swung to an operating profit of Won21.5bn ($19.5m) in Q3 from a Won56.7bn operating loss in Q2.
Overall this year the manufacturer hopes to sell 30-35 million smartphones, building on a 10 per cent growth in mobile phone sales over the previous quarter, with smartphones accounting for nearly half the 14.4 million shipments in Q3.
The company hopes for a further boost to its mobile phone revenues from the global roll-out of the Optimus G in the run up to Christmas and as it steps up marketing.
