Tech View: Glorious failure as LG pulls the plug on smartphones

The exit of the electronics giant from the smartphone business deals a blow to the market’s diversity

The Android market is at its healthiest in terms of diversity in a decade yet in LG it is losing one of its most creative brands

LG’s decision last week to formally exit the smartphone business wasn’t a surprise, but it has still been lamented. The electronics giant will be fine outside the sector – the LG group as a whole racked up record-breaking profits in 2020 – but its creativity is a loss to a market that has finally regained genuine diversity.

There was a spell in the middle of the last decade where the smartphone business felt like a ...