[THE INVESTOR]  LG Electronics' clout in the global smartphone market is steadily declining on the back of cut-throat competition in the sector.And the Korean firm’s bet on its next high-end smartphone, the V20, which succeeds the V10, is not expected to bring about a dramatic turnaround, according to industry watchers. LG V10 phablet. Its successor, tentatively called V20, is expected to come out in September. LG Electronics"LG’s upcoming new high-end smartphone will not be able to offset the s

[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics saw its operating income soar nearly 140 percent on-year to 584.6 billion won (US$519.7 million) in the April-June period on the back of strong sales of home appliances and air-conditioning systems, the company said in its earnings report on July 28.The company’s revenue came in at 14 trillion won, up 0.6 percent from a year earlier. LG Electronics’ R&D center in Seocho, Seoul  /  LG ElectronicsLG’s home appliance & air solution unit and home entertainment unit -- t

[THE INVESTOR] Electronic components firm LG Innotek said July 28 that it would invest US$ 230 million by 2018 to build a camera module factory in Haiphong, the third largest city of Vietnam.The company’s board of directors approved a new funding of US$ 20 million to be used for setting up a local branch at a meeting in Seoul on July 27. LG Innotek`s camera moduleLG Innotek will roll out camera modules for smartphones and vehicles at the new factory in Vietnam, where the monthly minimum wage is

[THE INVESTOR] LG Innotek, the electronics parts unit of LG Group, suffered an operating loss of 34 billion won (US$30 million) in the April-June period, the company said in its quarterly earnings report on July 27. Revenue stood at 1.12 trillion won, down 22.6 percent from a year ago.The company said the slowing demand for smartphones has affected its overall sales negatively, adding that it would making a big push on the more lucrative automotive parts business as its new growth engine.In the

[THE INVESTOR] All eyes are now on who will take the reins in the upcoming era of organic light-emitting diode, which is expected to bring a generational change to mobile devices and the whole IT sector. The smartphone OLED realm has been a stronghold of Samsung Display whose market share reached 97.7 percent in the Jan-March period, according to market research firm IHS.Among the runner-ups in the segment are LG display of South Korea and AUO of Taiwan whose market share stood at 0.9 percent an

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s display maker LG Display saw its operating profit drop 91 percent on-year in the April-June period, due largely to fierce competition in the global display market. The Seoul-headquartered company posted operating profit of 4.4 billion won (US$3.88 million) while its revenue came in at 585 billion won, down 13 percent compared to the same period in 2015.The TV and smartphone displays together account for more than half of the quarterly revenue -- 39 percent and 27 per

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s display manufacturer LG Display announced on July 27 that it would invest around 2 trillion won (US$1.80 billion) to build manufacturing facilities for plastic organic light-emitting diode displays, a type of flexible display mostly used for mobile devices like smartphones. The company will add the new facilities with the monthly production capacity of 15,000 sheets of the sixth-generation plastic OLED -- measured 1,500 millimeters by 1,859 millimeters -- at the firm

[THE INVESTOR] LG Chem announced on July 25 that it will build the country’s largest elastomer plant by 2018.According to the plans, the company will inject 400 billion won (US$351.79 million) into building an elastomer production facility at its plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province. The new facility will be capable of producing 200,000 metric tons of elastomers on an annual basis. Elastomers produced by LG ChemOnce the plant is complete, LG Chem’s elastomer production capacity will be pu