LG has taken an important step toward shutting down its mobile business. The last LG phones have rolled off the production line and the company will no longer manufacture handsets after Monday, according to Asia Business Daily. Engadget has contacted LG for confirmation.
The company announced plans in early April to wind down its phone business, but it kept making handsets for a couple more months to fulfill contracts with telecom companies. A factory in Vietnam where LG built many of its smartphones will be converted into a household appliance manufacturing plant, Asia Business Daily reports.
After years of losing money on the division, LG said it will kill its failed mobile business by the end of July, though it might still sell some devices after that date. The company will continue to support existing devices for some time to come. Premium models will get three years of software support, you can check out the Android 11 update timeline for more details. Some models (including Q-series phones) will get Android 12, the latest premium models are expected to go up to Android 13. Users will be able to receive after-sale services for 4 years from the date of manufacture of the device.
LG Electronics’ factory in Vietnam where most LG phones were being built will be switching over to home appliances. LG had already transitioned some of its production capacity there to appliances as a way to keep smartphone factory workers employed. The remaining workers from the phone lines will be reassigned by the end of July.
The plant at Haiphong was established in 2015 and has been making TVs and appliances in addition to phones. Also, sister companies LG Innotek and LG Display are producing camera modules and displays there.
As a sort of final goodbye LG was supposed to sell a limited number of LG Velvet 2 Pro rollable phones (around 3,000 units) to employees, however, that didn’t go as planned.
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