It's widely known that LG was once a player in the smartphone market but decided to call it quits back in 2021. The South Korean conglomerate cited the "incredibly competitive" nature of the smartphone sector as the reason behind its departure.
LG sold off its remaining inventory and shifted its focus to other businesses like EV components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, AI, B2B solutions, and mobility-related technologies such as 6G.
However, the former smartphone maker didn't leave its users high and dry by turning their devices into a paperweight. It promised three iterations of Android updates for premium devices released in 2019 and later, including G series, V series, VELVET, and Wing. Meanwhile, certain 2020 models, such as the LG Stylo and K series, only got two years of updates.
LG also announced that it will pull the plug on various services powering its defunct mobile device ecosystem on June 30, 2025. The company will shut down LG Electronics Mobile Phone Software Upgrade (FOTA), Update Center (Application Service) after this day, and the LG Bridge PC tool will also stop working. The desktop app lets you backup your data via USB and install software updates.
In other words, if you have any pending software upgrades for your LG smartphone, you have about two months to install them. "As we will no longer provide application updates, you will not be able to download default applications deleted upon initialization," the company cautioned.
While it may not be as big as Samsung or Apple, LG has had its share of innovations in the smartphone market. The LG G3 was the first smartphone to launch with a QHD display and include laser autofocus in 2014.
The LG G Flex and G Flex 2 made rounds on the web for their curved displays and flagship specifications. There was also the LG Wing, sporting two screens that could swivel to become perpendicular to each other.
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