LG Mobile Business Now Rumored To Fold Rather Than Sell

Sony, HTC, and LG have all long been expected to close up their smartphone shops sooner or later. For a while, it even seemed that HTC would be the first to go but it miraculously survives to this day. In recent months, however, it is LG that has been the subject of many rumors about its mobile business finally throwing in the towel and the latest word is that LG may decide to just completely close that business down rather than sell it but mostly because it hasn't found a suitable buyer anyway.

To be clear, LG has repeatedly and strongly denied any and all rumors about the fate of its smartphone business, even those supposedly coming from its own executives. Officially, there is no decision yet from the company about either the fate of its business or the launch of its products. That final word, however, might finally come next month.

According to South Korean news outlet Dong-A Ilbo, its source claims that the company may decide to just shutter its mobile business rather than sell it. Then again, it's because it actually failed to sign a deal with a buyer under favorable terms. As such, it wouldn't be able to keep its mobile business afloat for even a year. According to the report, discussions with Volkswagen and Vietnam's Vin Group didn't go as planned.

The source says that LG will share the decision with its employees as early as April. Those under LG's MC mobile division might be moved to other businesses including Home Appliances and Automobile.

That timeline, of course, puts the fate of LG's upcoming smartphones into question as well. The LG Rainbow, the Velvet's successor, was supposed to launch in the first quarter of the year but was put on hold to sometime in the first half. The LG Rollable, which would have been the market's first consumer rollable phone, has reportedly been canceled as well, something that LG also denied.