Korean tech giant LG has announced that it won't be revealing a folding phone during the Mobile World Congress later this month, saying it intends to focus on 5G, among other technologies.
Kwon Bong-seok, head of LG's Electronics mobile and TV department, said LG, having introduced a rollable TV last month, is more than capable of working on foldable phones. However, the company decided to focus on 5G phones instead, the Korea Times reported.
This development comes from the fact that the Korean giant has suffered from a 23% annual decline in smartphone sales in North and Latin America, Business Tech reported last year.
Kwon said the company's main concern is to lower that figure and get the company to make more sales, adding that the 5G network seems to provide them with good opportunities to make a comeback. Because of this, LG is going to focus on producing a high-quality 5G smartphone designed to lead the 5G race.
Despite LG's capacity to produce foldable phones, Kwon said it's "too early" for them to launch a foldable phone of their own. LG has made technological advancements in previous years but faced "market failure" nonetheless.
For now, it appears that LG will wait for the market's response to the foldable phones their competition will release before releasing their own. Should the public demand for foldable phones increase, Kwon said they are fully capable and ready to respond in kind.
A risky market
While there's interest in the upcoming foldable phone market, it's a fact that taking the first shot at releasing one is quite risky. Still, certain smartphone companies are taking the risk at innovating and hopefully making sales.
A few brands, such as Samsung, Xiaomi, and Motorola have announced their intentions to release foldable phones of their own, each company having a unique design that will either make the public want to buy them or simply ignore them.
Samsung's design, a prototype of which was shown last year, featured two screens, The Verge reported. This phone features a large display that is hidden when the phone is folded in the middle like a book. It has a smaller display that acts as a cover when the phone is folded.
Xiaomi's design is a bit more futuristic, real eye candy. It only has one large display that can be folded at two different areas, leaving the central part of the screen in use.
Motorola, on the other hand, is reportedly giving the beloved RAZR a comeback, this time as a foldable smartphone. Renders reveal that it will have the same profile and shape, minus the keypad and the bulging hinge.
