The latest flagship device from the Korean manufacturer, LG Electronics, has been receiving rave reviews from users and critics alike. LG Electronics was a late incumbent into the smartphone arena, when they finally arrived on the scene in 2010. Since then the Korean manufacturer has witnessed steady growth in their smartphone device sales. However, one major market has always eluded the grasp of LG, where the Korean manufacturer has so far been unable to make a major dent. The Chinese smartphone market is ruled, depending on who you ask, by either Apple Inc. or the local crop of manufacturers who churn out feature rich devices at much lower costs. As a matter of fact, Canalys reports that in Q2 of this year Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has beaten Samsung to the number one spot in China.
However, LG is also riding a wave of success on the back of the LG G3. Emboldened by this success story, LG aims to make a comeback in the Chinese market. The Korean manufacturer has announced the imminent launch of the LG G3 in China from Monday, 11th August 2014. LG is partnering with China’s second largest e-commerce company, JD.com, which will exclusively carry the G3 priced at CNY 3,999 (approximately $650) – a price point which is much less than what the G3 commands in its home base South Korea. The G3 retails for 899,800 won (approx. $869) in South Korea. Although LG is expected to sell around 60 million smartphone devices this year, we carry our reservations that China might not account for a major portion of this pie. An LG spokeswoman has clarified that LG has opted to partner with JD.com to reduce logistic costs, however this could also result in potentially losing out on sales volumes, given the fact that local carriers won’t be pushing the device. Another factor which goes against an early adoption of the LG G3 in China is the presence of players like Xiaomi, which provide exceptionally feature rich devices at much lower costs and get their wares peddled by local carriers. A case in point being the success of the Xiaomi Redmi Note, which was being pushed out by China Mobile and China Telecom, the largest carriers in the mainland.
LG has apparently set a target of selling 10 million LG G3s, however there is no end-date set for this as of yet. Though the number seems daunting, it is actually paltry when compared to the fact that close to a 108.5 million smartphones were shipped in China in the second quarter. Do you think that LG would make its mark in the Chinese market? Let us know in the comments below.