LG cell phones are over: what if you have one?

The end of LG cell phones around the world has come

LG Electronics, which became the world's third-largest manufacturer of mobile phones, announced Monday that it will no longer produce this type of technology after accumulating this segment some 4.4 billion dollars (3.75 billion euros) in losses in the last five years.

The South Korean company, which has a plant in Brazil, communicated the decision indicating that it is abandoning the "incredibly competitive mobile telephony sector" to focus on other spaces that it considers more profitable.

Among the segments in which it sees potential and hopes to focus its resources are components for electric vehicles, future 6G technology, robotics, home automation or artificial intelligence, the Seoul-based company explained in a letter published today.

The decision promises to directly affect the operations of the plant that LG has in the municipality of Taubaté (Sao Paulo state), where it has some 1,000 employees who are dedicated to assembling smartphones, screens and laptops.

Given the rumors about the closure of LG's telephone business that have occurred in recent weeks, the union representatives of this factory already indicated at the time to the Sao Paulo media that they fear for the future of some 400 of these jobs.

The South Korean company limited itself to pointing out today in the aforementioned statement that "it will work together with suppliers and partners throughout the process of closing our mobile phone business" and that "the details related to jobs will be determined at the local level."

The technology company had already been reorganizing the staff of its telephony branch for some time and assigning it to other less deficient segments.

In recent years, LG had focused almost all of its manufacturing resources in the Mobile Communications division on Vietnam and, in addition to Brazil, had some operations in India and China.

South Korean media indicated, citing sources close to the matter, that before adopting this decision the company unsuccessfully sought to sell its business to the Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, in addition to the Volkswagen group.