The telefoondivisie of electronics giant LG has at the end of the last year for the first time in a long time made a profit. This was due to the sales of expensive smartphones with support for 4g network lte.
The profit was not large: converted to about 6,75 million euro. It is, however, for the first time in years that LG makes a profit with the sale of phones. That is mainly due to the sale of the new model, the Optimus LTE, the first 4g smartphone with 720p display on the market appeared. The Optimus LTE came out in Japan, South Korea, Canada and the United States, and became there a million times already shipped.
The manufacturer mentions in his presentation, no exact figures on how many smartphones are sold, but the total number of mobile phones that LG sold fell by almost a quarter from 21.1 million to 17.7 million copies. For comparison: Nokia sells per quarter more than 100 million mobile phones, Samsung around 80 million and Apple shipped in the last quarter, 37 million iPhones. LG continues smartphone competitors such as HTC and BlackBerry.
LG wants to gain hold in 2012 to focus on ‘strategic markets’. Given the release of the Optimus LTE will mainly go to Asian markets, such as home market, South Korea, and the United States. Also want LG more models with 4g will release, a technique that the Netherlands has not yet been widely adopted.
LG seems not to focus more on the Netherlands and Europe. In Europe the Android-smartphone with 3d screen and Optimus 3D, the last major release, in July of last year. This fall brought LG, in contrast with competitors, not only high-end model. The Optimus 3D is now also no high-end smartphone more; the price in the Netherlands dropped to below 300 euro.
Also LG’s tv division posted returned to profit, about 100 million euros. This is especially due to the increased sales in the United States, thinks the company. In 2012, wants LG more tv’s sell by offering more 3d content. Also the Olympic Games this summer in London, the company’s sales a boost.
