Wired
“I chocolate you~”
In the era when slider phones and 2G networks were dominant, the classic slogan of LG “chocolate” phones can be said to carry many indelible memories of the post-80s generation.
But now, this “chocolate” is still “melting” after all: on April 5, LG Electronics officially announced that it will close its smartphone business at the end of July 2021, and some after-sales and system upgrade services will be retained.
In other words, LG mobile phone has been officially sentenced to “death sentence.”
Xiaogang regrets the departure of LG mobile phones. After all, LG has brought a lot of classic mobile devices to everyone, but Xiaogang also believes that LG’s shutdown of its mobile phone business is “inevitable.”
In this article, let us dream back to the years of LG’s company and feel the “fortunate” and “sorrow” of LG mobile phones.
Chocolate KG90
Strictly speaking, the first LG phone Xiaogang knew was not the Optimus 3D nor the G series phone, but the KG90.
At that time, LG KG90 was endorsed by the Korean queen Kim Tae-hee.
In addition to the appearance and performance of the KG90 itself and the classic slogan, the mobile phone’s extremely high level of topicality at the time was largely due to LG’s successful marketing of this phone.
It can be said that there were KG90 advertisements from TV commercials to subway stations. The slogan “love, chocolate, yo” was also quite brainwashed.
LG KG90 In addition, the LG KG90 also has a very strange design at the time, that is, when the user touches the KG90’s functional navigation keys, it will glow red.
This setting may seem a little boring now, but it can be said to be very attractive at the time. The inspiration for the phrase “blush as soon as you touch you” in the advertisement originated from this.
Fashionable design, high topicality, outstanding configuration, many factors make LG KG90 a hot mobile phone on the Chinese market in 2006.
LG KE850 Prada
Which is the world’s first mobile phone with a capacitive screen design? Is it an Apple iPhone?
No, it’s LG KE850 Prada. The LG KE850 Prada “first” iPhone debuted on December 15, 2006, and Apple released the iPhone at the Apple Macworld Expo on January 9, 2007.
It’s just that we all know what happened later, the LG KE850 Prada was overwhelmed by the iPhone, and the iPhone changed the trajectory of the development of smart phones.
In addition to being the world’s first mobile phone with a capacitive screen design, LG KE850 Prada is also the product of a cross-border collaboration between LG mobile phone and fashion giant Prada.
The latter gave the KE850 an extremely exquisite design. At the same time, the unique monochrome interface design of the mobile phone also gave it a unique charm that distinguished it from other mobile phones at that time.
In terms of configuration, LG KE850 Prada has a 3-inch screen with a resolution of 240 x 400, three physical buttons on the front of the phone, the touch screen is responsible for most of the operations, and the back is a 2-megapixel Schneider lens.
Although the hardware configuration and appearance design of the LG KE850 Prada were very impressive at the time, it was still just a feature phone, and this was undoubtedly an important factor in its brilliance being overshadowed by the iPhone.
LG Optimus 3D
In 2011, LG launched LG Optimus 3D, the world’s first mobile phone with naked-eye 3D technology.
The emergence of this mobile phone allows users to watch 3D movies without wearing 3D eyes. It is also equipped with a dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP4430 processor clocked at 1GHz, with 512MB of storage, and a 5-megapixel rear dual camera. The program can even shoot 3D video.
On the whole, the concept of this mobile phone is advanced enough, and the technology is also “black technology”, but the uniqueness of naked-eye 3D+3D video recording still cannot meet the test of practicality. With the cooling of the mobile phone 3D craze in the later period, LG Optimus 3D gradually faded out of people’s field of vision.
LG Optimus 2X, 4X HD
The reason why LG Optimus 2X and LG Optimus 4X HD are put together is mainly because these two mobile phones have opened two eras respectively: the emergence of LG Optimus 2X represents the mobile phone entering the era of dual-core processors, and LG Optimus 4X HD represents mobile phones. Entered the era of quad-core processors.
LG Optimus 2X is equipped with an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor with a 480×800 pixel resolution screen.
In addition, LG Optimus 2X is also the first mobile phone to support 1080P video recording. Users can output the video to TV and other devices for playback through the HDMI interface on the mobile phone.
Less than a year after LG Optimus 2X was released, LG pushed the phone into the quad-core era with Optimus 4X HD.
LG Optimus 4X HD is equipped with Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and has a 4.7-inch True HD IPS 1280 x 720 pixel large screen. The overall configuration is very powerful in the past, so it is in the AnTuTu 2.8.3 version (ancient version) A score of 11342 was obtained.
LG G Flex
The current screen forms on the mobile phone market can be roughly divided into straight screens, full screens, and folding screens. However, at this particular point in time in 2013, two unique mobile phones appeared on the market, one of which was the Samsung Galaxy Round. , The other is LG G Flex.
LG G Flex Samsung Galaxy Round and LG G Flex are two cutting-edge devices. The former uses a design that is curved inward from left to right, and the latter uses a design that curves inward from top to bottom.
LG G Flex has a 6-inch OLED screen with a curvature of 700R, which is slightly better in terms of practicality because its design can more closely fit the user’s facial contours.
At the same time, the back of LG G Flex also supports a unique automatic scratch repair function. The configuration of Snapdragon 800+2GB RAM+32GB storage was also powerful in the past. Unfortunately, this phone is not optimistic about the market.
LG Wing
Although the concept of foldable screen mobile phones has been very popular in recent years, LG Wing must be the one who “plays with flowers” on the screen form.
This phone has a 6.8-inch OLED main screen and a 3.9-inch secondary screen, which can be rotated to achieve a T-shaped dual-screen display.
The appearance of the rotated LG Wing looks more like a combination of gimbal and mobile phone, and the “Gimbal Camera” function that LG officially added to it gives this appearance more practicality. The unique screen shape makes LG Wing has more ways to play.
In terms of configuration, LG Wing is equipped with a Snapdragon 765G processor, supplemented by 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM, and uses a 64-megapixel rear three-camera solution.
On the whole, the LG Wing mobile phone is still a very trendy mobile phone even now, and its unique mobile phone form makes it more suitable for short video bloggers.
However, it is precisely because of the “maverick” appearance and weaker processor that LG Wing has not been accepted by the market.
Shang: Difficulties in domestic and foreign affairs finally exit
With so many classic models, so rich in innovation, why LG mobile phones still regret to exit? This question must be clear to LG itself better than anyone else.
Inside: Can’t afford to lose money for years
First of all, mobile phones are one of LG Electronics’ many businesses. According to public information, LG mobile phone sales in 2008 once reached 3 billion US dollars, with cumulative sales of more than 100 million units, ranking third in the global mobile phone market after Nokia and Samsung Electronics.
However, the good times are not long, and LG’s mobile phone business is inevitable. It has been at a loss since Q2 2015, and has accumulated a loss of 5 trillion won in Q4 2020.
Although there are many plans to rescue the mobile phone business within LG, the long-term loss status is an important factor in LG Electronics’ decision to shut down the mobile phone business. After all, it is impossible for a long-term loss-making business to drag down the development of the company’s other advantageous businesses.
Speaking of the development of other businesses of LG, according to LG Electronics’ 2020 financial report, LG’s 2020 revenue is 63.26 trillion won (approximately US$56.45 billion) and profit is 3.2 trillion won (approximately US$2.85 billion), a year-on-year increase of 31.1%.
Among them, LG’s household appliances and air solutions business has annual revenue of 22.27 trillion won (approximately US$19.87 billion) and a profit of 2.35 trillion won (approximately US$2.1 billion), making the biggest contribution.
LG Electronics also considered selling its mobile phone business, but in the later discussions with German Fox and other manufacturers on the sale of LG mobile phone business negotiations failed due to patent factors, which undoubtedly became the “last straw” that crushed LG’s mobile phone business.
Outside: Competition is fierce, the blue ocean becomes the red ocean
The shutdown of LG’s mobile phone business, in addition to its own increased losses and failure to sell, external factors are also very important.
Domestic mobile phone manufacturers have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain, and the competition between established mobile phone manufacturers and emerging forces has become fierce. Needless to say, the speed of progress of domestic mobile phone manufacturers can be seen from the statistics of statistical agencies:
In 5 years, LG has dropped from the world’s fourth-largest market share (tied with domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Xiaomi) to “Others”.
In five years, domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and vivo have made rapid progress. In 2019, three of the top five global mobile phone market shares are domestic mobile phone manufacturers. The rise of domestic mobile phone manufacturers also forced LG to withdraw from the Chinese market in 2018.
In Q3 of 2020, before LG announced its withdrawal from the mobile phone business, LG mobile phones delivered the final answer with a shipment of 6.5 million units and a market share of less than 2% of the global mobile phone market.
Within 5 years, I was troubled internally and externally. LG mobile phone, reluctant to exit.
Enlightenment: Innovation is also a “double-edged sword”
For mobile phone companies, products are king. Customer acceptance, broad market, and innovative empowerment are good products.
From the many LG products summarized above, it is not difficult to see that LG mobile phones do not lack innovative strength, and some products even make people shine now, but these products are still not popular in the end. The fundamental reason lies in the direction of innovation.
Innovation should be user-oriented
The first priority of mobile phone innovation is to be suitable for users. From the user’s point of view, focus on user habits, rather than innovation for the sake of innovation.
Taking LG G Flex as an example, this mobile phone was indeed very “black technology” at the time: whether it is a slightly curved screen or a design that can be automatically repaired on the back, it has become the most unique of all mobile phones.
However, LG G Flex’s large 6-inch screen has a resolution of only 1280×720 pixels, and the criticized rear camera module has caused poor feedback from LG G Flex users.
Even if LG launches the G Flex 2 later, it will not help, because consumers’ first impression has been formed, even if this mobile phone may make up for the problems of the previous generation product, it will not consider buying it.
The price, configuration, and positioning must be clear
How to attract users to buy a mobile phone? Price is the core, other internal factors include mobile phone configuration, appearance, etc., while external factors are marketing.
In terms of selling price, LG flagship phones have the same higher selling prices as other brands of flagship phones, but users who are familiar with LG phones know that these LG flagship phones will often have price cuts over time, and some potential consumers will often find them here. When I choose to buy, after all, it is also the flagship positioning and flagship configuration.
In terms of configuration, taking LG Wing as an example, this mobile phone with a rotatable dual-screen configuration is priced at 1.09 million won in South Korea, which is equivalent to about 6,000 yuan.
With the high price and the unique rotating screen, these two elements should be the configuration of the flagship mobile phone, but LG is equipped with the Snapdragon 765G processor.
So, what is LG’s attitude towards this phone? What is the positioning of this phone? Perhaps LG is very vague about LG Wing’s positioning in the mobile phone market.
At the same time, LG’s misjudgment of the operating system also made it late to use the Android system. LG only launched the first mobile phone with Android system at the end of 2011. Before that, LG also chose Microsoft WM system like Nokia.
If LG has grasped the trend in the era of feature phones, the pace of LG in the 3G era is obviously much slower.
Overtones: The rapid development of domestic mobile phone manufacturers
In addition to LG’s own problems, domestic mobile phone manufacturers that have grown rapidly relying on the unique advantages of the localized supply chain cannot be ignored.
When it comes to innovation, domestic mobile phone manufacturers led by Huawei and Xiaomi are no weaker than LG;
Speaking of user groups, Chinese consumers’ acceptance of domestic branded mobile phones has been increasing year by year; when it comes to comprehensive aspects, domestic mobile phone brands have improved rapidly in terms of performance, experience, functions, and comprehensive cost performance;
At the same time, the fierce competition that exists between domestic mobile phone manufacturers also allows them to have an extraordinary response speed in technology research and development.
From 3G to 4G and then to 5G, when LG is still in the stage of confusion, adjustment, and reflection, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have made clear goals to catch up.
The final chapter
While the departure of LG mobile phones is embarrassing, it is also a warning and good for domestic mobile phone manufacturers: LG mobile phones have used personal experience to provide “fresh samples” for domestic mobile phone manufacturers, and the withdrawal of LG mobile phones also means domestically produced mobile phones. Mobile phone manufacturers will focus more on surpassing Apple and Samsung in the future.
After all, these two established mobile phone manufacturers still occupy a large share in the global mobile phone market share, which is still a hindrance and a long way to go for domestic mobile phone manufacturers.
Finally, we still have to say goodbye to the LG mobile phone that exited at the end of the song. After all, I “chocolated” you.
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