The LG G6 isn't selling well — but why?

Today, LG posted its Q2 financial results online, giving us some insights on how things are going for the South Korean giant. And it’s generally good news: the company is well in the green and its quarterly revenue is 4% higher than that of Q2 2016, hitting a grand total of $12.89 billion. However, this solid achievement is mostly thanks to LG’s home appliances and air conditioners. The company’s mobile division, on the other hand, is having a pretty rough quarter.

LG said that the last three months were “challenging” for its mobile department and it reported an operating loss of $117.27 million, “primarily due to weaker than expected premium smartphone sales” — its major smartphone focus at the time being the LG G6, released in April. LG also says that the results are nearly unchanged when compared to Q2 of last year, but it’s s a stark difference from the strong first quarter LG Mobile enjoyed.

So, what happened? LG did everything right with the LG G6, dropping the ridiculed modular concept from the LG G5, getting in early on the bezel-less design trend, and generally producing an extremely solid smartphone. We awarded it 9/10 and an Editors Choice award when we reviewed it — making it one of the higher scoring devices we’ve covered in recent years.

Samsung, LG’s South Korean rival, probably had a lot to do with LG’s not-so-hot second quarter. Its mobile division reported a Q2 operating revenue of $3.7 billion (which Samsung attributed to “strong sales of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones”), as opposed to LG’s $2.39 billion.

The Galaxy S8 arrived with a better screen-to-body ratio than the G6, higher-performing Qualcomm chip, and was backed by Samsung’s branding. Despite last year’s Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, Samsung’s name still counts for a lot in the mobile market, with only Apple being even remotely close to rivaling it globally. With all of that in mind, the release of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus flagship duo only a few weeks after the G6 will no doubt have cost LG some sales.

The bottom line is that the LG G6 is a great smartphone that has been quickly overshadowed by a bigger fish. While it’s always disappointing to see a good phone sell poorly, it seems that simply making a good phone just isn’t enough in the mobile market anymore.

What are your thoughts on the LG G6 and its sales? Let us know in the comments.