, the company said the decision has been approved by its board and the company expects to fully exit the mobile phone business by the end of July.
LG is the third biggest smartphone brand in the U.S., making up about 11% of all smartphone sales in the country last year,LG said exiting the smartphone business will allow it to focus on growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes and artificial intelligence. All three major wireless networks in the U.S.—AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile—presently offer LG smartphones as part of their cellular plans, most of which are cheaper than Samsung and Apple’s more premium devices.LG’s decision to pull the plug on its smartphone business comes after the division reported nearly six consecutive years of losses totaling around $4.5 billion,Reuters.