South Korean smartphone brand LG Electronics is reportedly shutting down its phone business instead of selling it, according to South Korean news site Donga on Sunday, March 21.

The company is putting on hold the launch of its smartphone lineup for this year, including the LG Rollable revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this January.

According to the site’s sources, LG held talks with Vietnam’s Vin Group, and German automaker Volkswagen to sell the company’s mobile communications business division, but no acquisition materialized.

Reports of LG closing the division started in January, when a memo from LG CEO Brian Kwon leaked, saying that they “are reviewing directions of the mobile communication division, opening the door for all options.” LG reportedly only has around 1% of the global market share, making it hard to find a buyer. Without a deal in place, the company may be looking to shutter the division and transfer employees to another division.

Counterpoint Research in its most recent report (Q4 2020 results), has Apple leading global market share at 21%, Samsung at 16%, Xiaomi at 11%, OPPO at 9%, and Huawei and Vivo both at 8%.

Donga also reported that the mobile division has been operating at a loss for 5 straight years, with a cumulative deficit of $4.4 billion but LG held on due to the importance of the smartphone market. LG Electronics reported revenues of $56.45 billion and profits of $2.85 billion in 2020. – Rappler.com