Some big changes are underway in 2018 for South Korean tech firm LG Electronics as they’ve recently announced plans to retire the G-series brand during the first half of the year.
Despite how impressive LG’s flagship G-series phones have been over the years, the company has struggled to gain any market share in the smartphone industry. In the past two years LG’s mobile division has only shown quarterly profits twice. The company is hoping that this new brand and marketing strategy will help give them a leg up against the competition which includes rivals such as Apple and Samsung who have been dominating the smartphone industry.
The LG G-series line of smartphones first launched with the Optimus G back in 2012. After a five year run the company is saying goodbye to their G smartphones and replacing them with a fresh new flagship brand. It’s expected that the “LG G7” will be the first phone in line to receive the new brand name and will most likely launch at MWC 2018 which takes place in Barcelona in February.
An unnamed LG official also reports that the new brand will kickoff with a two-digit number as opposed to the new series being launched with the number one in it. Being that the iPhone X is already on the market and the Samsung Galaxy S9 is soon to be launched, LG doesn’t want consumers to confuse their new flagship with an older model device. This marketing tactic has worked in the past for other companies including Apple and Samsung. Apple for example skipped the iPhone 9 all together and went straight to the iPhone X.
LG makes amazing products and hopefully this shift will help their upcoming smartphones gain more popularity. Sometimes it simply takes a slight adjustment when it comes to how a product is marketed. Time will tell how this move will fair against the competition and among consumers. What are some of your thoughts on this matter? Do you think such a strategy might help increase LG smartphone sales and popularity? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!