LG says it might quit the smartphone market

[Chromatischism]

Too bad. They made good devices.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/01/lg-says-it-might-quit-the-smartphone-market/?amp=1

 

[Katji]

Definition of good. The market does not think so. Phone market has changed in the last few years - less sales, except in very low-budget segnent. LG had to decide - change the mobile phone division so it can compete with the big players, or focus on its main business - home AV/TV and appliances. The answer is somewhat obvious - changing their phone division to compete is unlikely to succeed versus Huawei and Samsung and Xiaomi. Sony is not even there, very likely they will get out too.

 

[Vini darko]

I shall take even better care of my nexus 5 and v30+ then.

 

[Chromatischism]

Definition of good. The market does not think so.

Good ≠ sales

When was the last time you saw an LG phone ad amidst the advertising saturation of Apple and Samsung?

 

[Chromatischism]

I shall take even better care of my nexus 5 and v30+ then.

We recently retired our last LG Nexus 5. Still working, but having power button trouble. Replaced with a V40.

 

[Vini darko]

We recently retired our last LG Nexus 5. Still working, but having power button trouble. Replaced with a V40.

The fix for the power button issue is to whack the corner nearest the power button on a hard surface , mine occasionally needs whacking
Anyway V40 is a much better device congrats

 

[Chromatischism]

Yup, many whacks were done. It was too intermittent to make my Dad continue to be plagued by reboot loops. So now he has something reliable.

 

[pavuol]

So after they gone, the last mfg to make phones "for audiophiles" (i.e. with jack and decent DAC with output >1Vrms) will be Vivo?
Problem is they are not globally present.. Meizu also abandoned "the Jack".

 

[Tks]

I see price drops on eBay are a coming. Shame really, their p
V series phones are pretty nice. You aint ever going to see an ESS chip in a flagship phone ever again. Or a flat back without a camera bump.

 

[preload]

What, LG is still making smart phones?

 

[Katji]

Good ≠ sales

When was the last time you saw an LG phone ad amidst the advertising saturation of Apple and Samsung?

On tv? The only phone ads I see are Samsung and Huawei. I remember when LG was doing their intensive marketing campaign about 10 years ago, convincing us that their home appliances and tv was better quality.

Good not equal to sales? Yes, well, there's more to marketing than advertising, and ESS DAC doesn't make it a good phone.

 

[Chromatischism]

Even completely ignoring the DAC. The devices are quality and review very well. They just don't sell because no one knows about them or assumes that Samsung and Apple are the go-to.

 

[bigx5murf]

I love LG phones, I've bought every flagship since the v10. But I've had major issues needing warranty replacement on all of them, sometimes multiple times, except for the current one. Sad, seems like they finally got their build quality issues sorted.

 

[tonyo123]

Amazing how they can market TVs and panels but ended littlewhere in cell phones. So another minimal android overlay interface with high quality sound option losing out to the big marketing of convenience, higher camera pixels and features, and speed to 5G that for today matters little (yes in the future and for other use cases it will be important - for the handset, its a new radio with more bands plus memory).

Once a memo like that is put out, the air goes out of the balloon, and it will be the end. Frustrating.

 

[Chromatischism]

I now have a Pixel 4a 5G. I've been connecting to Verizon's 5G and it seems to be quite a battery drainer so I've set it to LTE only. That's not why I bought it, though; I couldn't care less about 5G.

I broke with tradition and went this route instead of an eBay V-series again because I just think Google does Android better than anyone. It doesn't hurt than it has the best camera quality, great haptics, a really nice screen, and 1-2 day battery life.

 

[ShiZo]

Damn, I've used the v series for a long time.

 

[tonyo123]

The reason I like the high end LG Vxx line is that they have an analog headphone jack, the quad-DAC is a nice included option, also supports MQA (files or streaming), USB-C, and has a minimal LG overlay of the android OS. Guess a future phone will have to use USB-C with a two-way dongle.

 

[Cahudson42]

Remember what happened to the price of Chromecast Audio?

Get your $110 V20, $30 Rebel, etc. While you can..

 

[Chromatischism]

The reason I like the high end LG Vxx line is that they have an analog headphone jack, the quad-DAC is a nice included option, also supports MQA (files or streaming), USB-C, and has a minimal LG overlay of the android OS. Guess a future phone will have to use USB-C with a two-way dongle.

Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel have headphone jacks and good output.

 

[tonyo123]

Do we know their DAC? Likely something run-of-the-mill, unfortunately.