LG Says They’re Moving Away from Modular Designs with the LG G6

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Last year, LG made tons of headlines when it was announced they would be shifting to a modular design with the LG G5. The device quickly became one of the most anticipated smartphones of the year, and LG even said they were committing more funds to marketing the device than they should.

LG even seemed dedicated to the LG Friends modular system and were doing what they could to entice 3rd-party developers to jump on board at special developer events.

The company had once promised that it would continue to support the modular design with their future smartphones, in an attempt to get customers to invest in the modules. But then the device was released and the reviews weren’t as favorable as LG had hoped they would be. This decline in popularity continued throughout the year and it was ultimately considered a flop by the company when they were unable to meet sales expectations. Availability and compatibility issues with the already-limited set of modules were the nail in the coffin for the G5.

This resulted in a 23% drop in quarterly revenue and attributed to LG’s mobile division losing millions of dollars last year. Thankfully their appliance division was able to keep the company afloat, but many were wondering if LG would spin off the mobile division to prevent these losses from dragging the company down. LG’s Chief Technologist, Skott Ahn, is at CES this week and he assured the audience that spinning off the mobile division is not something they would consider doing.

Ahn also spoke about the upcoming LG G6 at the event too, telling us that it is moving away from the modular design LG invested in with the LG G5. We’re told that LG could decide to launch the LG G6 in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress event next month. However, a date has yet to be finalized and they are also considering a couple of other dates for the launch as well.

Source: The Wall Street Journal