LG hasn't made money selling smartphones for years at this point, but bless 'em, they just keep trying. LG just released results for the third quarter of 2019, and it saw another loss from the mobile business as expected. However, LG says it lost a lot less money on smartphones than it did last quarter.

Overall, LG reported revenues of KRW 15.7 trillion ($13.15 billion) and profits of KRW 781.4 billion ($654.4 million) for the third quarter. That's a 1.8% increase in sales and a 4.4% increase in profits compared to this time last year. The company's appliance and entertainment divisions pulled in most of that money, but mobile isn't bleeding as badly as it has in the past. LG Mobile had sales of KRW 1.52 trillion ($ 1.27 billion) in the last quarter. After expenses, it lost KRW 161.2 billion ($135 million). That's much less than the $268.4 million loss in Q2 and a slight improvement over Q3 2018 when it lost $171.95 million.

As usual, LG points out the smartphone market is challenging, but it has managed to narrow mobile losses through cost-saving measures. LG's smartphone division is moving in the right direction, but it's still a long way from making money. Refrigerators and TVs will probably continue paying the bills at LG into the foreseeable future.