LG, Pantech vie for leadership in mid-tier smartphone market

Hard-pressed by Samsung Electronics and Apple in the high-end smartphone segment, second-tier smartphone makers LG Electronics and Pantech are vying for leadership in the lower-priced smartphone market in South Korea.

Pantech, once Korea’s third-largest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung and LG, unveiled its new mid-tier smartphone Sky IM-100 on Thursday in Seoul, returning to the local smartphone market after a two-year hiatus.

The Sky IM-100, pronounced as “Sky I am back” in Korean, reflects Pantech’s ambition to regain its past glory in the early 2000s, when the firm enjoyed a great deal of popularity on the back of its “Sky” mobile phone brand before the onset of more advanced smartphones and financial hardship.

While Pantech seeks to rebuild its position in the local market, the nation’s second-largest smartphone maker LG is out to ensure it does not give way to its former rival in the mid-tier market.

On the day of Pantech’s release, LG introduced the X Cam -- the latest model from its mid-range Android device lineup, the X Series, to launch here -- in a move widely perceived as aimed at dampening sales of Pantech’s new smartphone.

Last Friday, LG had also unveiled the X Skin, another budget model from the series, on the same day that Pantech began receiving preorders for the Sky IM-100, signaling the onset of a fierce competition.

LG’s X Cam and Pantech’s Sky IM-100 accentuate different design elements and functions, though their pricing and overall specs are similar enough to consider the two models “rivals.”

The X Cam, priced at 495,000 won ($430), sports a 5.2-inch FHD Touch display and two rear-facing cameras -- 13 megapixels and 5 megapixels each for a wider view -- and an 8 megapixel front-facing camera.

The model boasts a weight of 121 grams and a thickness of between 5.2-6.9 millimeters. It runs on the Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system.

On the other hand, the Sky IM-100 has put forward a simplistic design, high-end audio technologies and wireless charging features as its main ammunition, in place of its relatively weaker hardware specifications.

“Rather than focusing on specs only, we thought hard about what’s really the best for our customers and (tried to) increase user convenience,” Pantech president Moon Ji-wook said in a statement.

Priced at 449,000 won, Pantech’s new smartphone features a 5.15-inch display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430 mobile processor, 32-gigabytes of internal storage memory and a 2GB RAM. It also operates under the Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow system.

Targeting those who want a cheaper selection is the LG X Skin priced at 231,000 won. It is a thin, lightweight budget smartphone at 112 g and 6.9 mm, offering only key, basic functions to prioritize cost-effectiveness.

And LG reportedly has three more models from its X Series that are slated for local release in the months ahead, signifying further competition for Pantech in the near future.

“Topped with premium smartphone technologies, the X Series will enable LG to continue leading the budget smartphone market,” vice president and head of marketing communications of LG Electronics’ mobile communications division Yie Cheol-hoon said in a statement.

In light of the flurry of rivaling models set for launch later this year, Pantech president Moon told reporters in a press conference in Seoul last week that Pantech “does not see itself as being in competition against budget smartphones.”

“We did not target any particular low-tier model (in launching the Sky IM-100). We made our product with the thought of building an entirely new market.”

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)