LG
It no longer feels hyperbolic to say that LG's persistence with mobile, while laudable, is also a pretty toxic business decision. After all, the conglomerate has been propping up its flagging handset division for a good long while now. The final quarter of 2016 saw the company take a severe blow, actually losing $223.98 million, mostly thanks to its failing handset division.
The company also threw some blame at the feet of its nascent vehicle components business, which was only founded in 2013. But there's notes of optimism coming out of that bureau, since sales of the LG-developed Chevy Bolt are now swinging. Not to mention that other companies are also buying up LG-made in-car tech for their own car safety and entertainment systems. Oh, and the bulk of the losses came from R&D spending, so there's a plan to recoup that cash from future sales.
LG handset sales vs. operating incomeWe can't update this graph, as LG no longer releases the data. Traditionally, LG publishes both the number of smartphones that it has sold, and the net quarterly profit or loss that its mobile division makes. This time out, those facts have been trimmed from the release, with the company only saying that revenues went up thanks to "strong sales" of the V20. But any boost that device offers only serves to offset the soul-sucking failure of the G5, still chewing through money long after the company began announcing its replacement.
The full year figures weren't so doom-laden, and the company did coin an overall net profit of $109.31 million for 2016. LG's not going to stop making phones, however unwise that may be, and we know that the G6 will arrive at MWC this February. Shortly afterward, the company will also release more "mass-tier" devices with lower prices for the rest of the world.We'll leave you to decide if that's a good idea or not, but the question as to how long LG will remain in a market it can't make a profit on still lingers.
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