Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
LG's mobile division loses $130.5 million in Q3, says it's all part of the plan
- LG’s mobile division has released its third quarter 2018 financial results.
- The company recorded an operating loss of $130.5 million and sales are down again.
- Despite the huge loss and lower sales, LG says its new strategy is working as planned.
LG Electronics announced its third quarter 2018 financial results and its mobile division has once again recorded huge losses — this time of 146.3 billion won (~$130.5 million). The unit also posted sales of 2.04 trillion won (~$1.82 billion), its lowest total in over two years.
Despite this, the losses are actually an improvement over both last quarter when it lost 185.4 billion won (~$162.7 million) and Q3 2017 when it lost 375.3 billion won (~$329.5 million). Because of this, LG says its new strategy is “proceeding as planned.”
LG says its reduced deficit is a direct result of its “business plan and a stronger focus on mid-range products;” an interesting statement considering most of the high profile strategy changes we have seen this year have been to its flagship lineup.
The most radical change LG has made to its mid-range is the re-introduction of G series branding to cheaper devices and the company’s first Android One phone. However, LG hasn’t actually released these devices yet.
It has now been almost a year since LG decided to completely overhaul its mobile strategy. Since then, we have seen the company release four flagship devices, promise to focus on what it calls the smartphone ABCDs, open a dedicated software update center, and introduce the ThinQ branding to its high-end devices.
We don’t have any official sales numbers for LG’s recent smartphones. However, early estimates suggested that the LG G7 ThinQ had significantly more pre-orders than the LG G6 in its home market of Korea. LG is also bullish about the LG V40 ThinQ, and it expects the release of the phone to increase mobile division sales in the fourth quarter of the year.
While the mobile division is struggling, things are looking pretty positive for LG Electronics as a whole. In the most recent quarter, it recorded an operating profit of 748.8 billion won (~$667.7 million).