In a candid statement to the Korea Times, LG has announced the departure of a number of executives from its mobile division following the disappointing sales of the LG G5, noting that it had been (effectively) a sales failure. The South Korean company is clearly hoping that a restructure will bring some much needed reinvigoration to its mobile business, with the introduction of a new Program Management Office within the mobile division to pick up the pieces and rebuild.
Korea Times reported the specifics:
Mobiles chief Cho Juno will oversee the PMO, which has authority to handle strategies for product development, manufacturing, marketing and sales; while Oh Hyung-hoon, a former research lab head, will be its chief, supported by mobile division Vice President Ha Jeong-wook.
Kim Hyung-jeong, a senior vice president at LG, has been named head of the company’s mobile research lab.
While the LG G5 was a technically capable phone (and one that found favour in my pocket), it was not universally well-received; reviews were critical of the attempt to make the phone modular with the introduction of LG Friends, some of which are good, and some are just outright confusing.
LG clearly hoped the ecosystem around the G5 would take off, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case; third party interest hasn’t produced any viable products at this stage, and the LG-made Friends on market are priced in a way which would probably put them outside the interest of most. While some of the Friends are quite useful — the camera grip can be quite good when taking semi-professional photos — others are a little more confused. LG 360 CAM performs well, but others on the market do a better job in the same price range, and LG 360 VR hasn’t launched, following the company’s admission that the product simply isn’t ready yet.
LG’s history of making great phones hasn’t been enough to buoy its market share; in our reviews of the LG G3, LG G4 and LG G5 we liked them all, with LG G4 even being my pick for the best phone released last year, but LG’s market share has waned in the face of competition from Chinese brands like Huawei, Oppo and even OnePlus, with the Korean falling in behind Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi in global shipments.
If LG can regroup in time to announce an even better G6 next year, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if the Friends concept is consigned to the past as an interesting experiment that failed. LG needs to look at how Samsung turned a fairly ordinary reception of its Galaxy S6 into the rather well received Galaxy S7, and address those shortcomings identified this year.
If our feedback was worth anything, we’d suggest LG do this:
- Don’t offer “performance and power economy” as an excuse for a smaller battery. 3,000 mAh is the minimum.
- The Friends would only have worked if they were (a) great and (b) affordable. If you can’t do that, don’t do them at all.
- The fingerprint sensor, removable battery, MicroSD and USB-C are great. Good move.
- Nail that production quality; LG G5 was good, but it could be better. Refine those edges and remove those gaps.
What do you think LG needs to turn around or change from the G5 to next year’s G6?
i think LG was precipitous when they launched this product ; i have one it’s very nice but it need more work on the design and colors ; black color is very nice
-they also need to improve the folio case to allow people to use cameras
-they need find solution how to use 360 cam without lose internet connection
-a button to take photos
-adding buttons : home ; back like in samsung phones
-find professional solution to remove the gaps ; they need new design
-and reduce the prices of friends or the phone
Yeah. I had problems with my LG G3 and LG refused to fix under my two year warranty. I took it back to The Good Guys and they sent it away and fixed it for me. I gave it to my brother and will never buy another LG product again.
Make the G6 like the v10 but with a unibody metal design.with a big battery,builtin DAC, oled screen,water proof,thin bezels like the v10,same camera and video controls as the v10. I like the v10 second screen.perhaps this will be the v10 succesor.
Ive been really happy with my G3, keen to upgrade now, for about 650 i can get a G5 or the ZTE Axon 7, im leaning towards the ZTE, just waiting for review from someone and product availability.
There are 4 types of phones out there: 1) Samsung and Apple. (Previously just Apple). It doesn’t matter what the technical aspects of these phones are – they are popular and are popular for being popular. Walk into Officeworks and try buy a case for a phone and you have these two choices. Even though they sell other phones, they only sell covers for these two phones (and multiple versions of each). Samsung and Apple also have their own “experience stores” all over. 2) Techie phones – Oppo, Oneplus and friends. Top of the range hardware and custom software. Hackable.… Read more »
For me the v10 is more far better than any phone of those brands..the only LG phone with great built quality.
That is precisely my point – LG has excellent phones and those that buy them are happy with them. Their issue is to do with vision. They need to choose a market to target and go after it. If they want the “top end” market then they need to throw some marketing behind it. At the very least have LG branded covers and accessories available. And advertising and LG areas in stores etc. Otherwise Samsung and Apple will eat their lunch. If they want to fit into any other section then they need to target those. At the moment they… Read more »
I love my G4 (Albeit many have a bootloop issue). The article is correct in what is wanted by the LG consumer in an LG phone. IE finger print sensor, expandable memory, removable battery etc. And what I love about the G4 is having the buttons at the back. I would like to see a power saving option whereby depending on what you are doing, you can drop the resolution way down when not needed. As for the LG friends, travelling/on holidays the “Cam Plus” would be handy, and the only thing that interests me. [EDIT} RE Post below. Not… Read more »
2 main issue with LG. Hard to root. They limited bootloader unlock to Europe only for the G4 and the LG G5 friends was not hot pluggable. While my LG G4 works great, I can’t wait to get rid of it as I want to upgrade to marshmallow but still keep root.
hardly the reason for the masses to NOT buy the phone …
I disagree. The masses usually look to their techie friends or online review/blogs for advice when buying phones. Because of my recommendation, a few of my friend bought LG G4. However, after owning it myself, I now no longer recommend any LG phones due to the limitation they impose. Online reviews of the LG G5 have already highlighted about the non hot swappable aspect of the LG G5’s friend among other issues. The dev community (extension of the tech community) have not embrace LG devices because of the restriction that LG imposes. Samsung built market share initially by heavily embracing… Read more »
if that is the case, then why is nexus (one of the the most developer friendly phone there is) NOT the best selling Android flagship? Or even the OnePlus which is another dev friendly device.
perhaps your “few” friends needs to translate to a million since the LG G4 was never a number 1 seller in any market.
Like I said, I no longer recommend the LG G4 due to the limitation so not sure what you mean. The OnePlus aren’t available through carriers, so how would the masses buy it? And Nexus ranges has are missing a key feature for android, Micro SD. Easy to see all the issues. This is all just my opinion. But what is your view then that LG gain some success and now they are losing that traction?
what measure of success are you talking about? reviews? blog sites? techies? I doubt G2 to G4 was ever in top 5 bestselling flagship list 🙂
In a way I don’t want them turning things around, I love how quickly LG phones crash in price and I bet if they had the success of Samsung etc they wouldn’t be so quick to drop prices 🙂
They have an opportunity to do a ‘V10’ and launch a replacement flagship, but this time at a sensible price. It’s easy to be both unique AND answer real user needs – if you are listening properly.
I still like my G4 a lot, size is perfect at 5.5, good speed, camera is fantastic, buttons at back are awesome, etc. Just wasn’t interested in the G5 because a lot of those things were dropped. Also I think people are a little more worried with LG not completely owning up to the common bootloop issue on the G4, for example admitting it’s a global issue and perhaps local warranty even for grey imports; once bitten twice shy. I’m on my second G4 after a warranty issue (not the boot loop), hope I get another year out of it.
Shame. I like LG and the G2 was one of the best phones I ever had. Hope the G6 goes better for them.
Try the LG v10.its awsome.