In short: LG Mobile President and Chief Executive Officer Hwang Jeong-hwan believes the smartphone manufacturer is close to turning things around and is likely to return to the black next year, simultaneously with the release of its first 5G-enabled handset. While speaking to journalists at the V40 ThinQ launch event in the company’s home country of South Korea earlier this week, the industry veteran said the firm is presently among only two or three manufacturers in the world that can deliver a proper 5G handset in time for the deployment of the first wave of such next-generation networks, which is something that he believes consumers will reward. During the same event, the executive confirmed the tech giant is presently pursuing foldable smartphone commercialization, reiterating the information another company official previously revealed to AndroidHeadlines.
Background: While LG Electronics has been experiencing historic growth in recent years, its mobile unit remains one of its rare few divisions that remain in a slump, having lost the equivalent of $172 million in the second quarter of the year alone. Mr. Hwang — who has been appointed to turn things around less than a year ago — is unconcerned about the current state of affairs. “Product trends change very quickly,” he said. The firm’s debut 5G Android smartphone will be one of the first such products in the world and will be exclusive to Sprint, at least in the United States.
Impact: With LG Mobile being on track to lose at least $400 million in 2018, its chief’s promises of a quick turnaround are bound to be met with a healthy degree of skepticism from industry analysts. As the firm recently concluded some aggressive cost-cutting efforts, it’s left without surefire ways to improve its bottom line in the near term and now must focus on delivering highly competitive products and marketing them accordingly if it hopes to turn things around and bring itself in line with the rest of LG’s units, most of which have been posting excellent results in recent years.