In April 2021 LG Electronics has officially closed the mobile division and restructured, fixing the record growth in profits.
Now, according to the Herald Economic Daily, the company has agreed with Apple to sell the devices in its retail stores starting in August 2021. While we are talking about 400 retail outlets in South Korea, but the agreement also implies further “expansion”.
It is noted that the iPhone and the iPad will appear in the shop windows, but the Mac line will not be presented. LG still makes its own notebooks under the Gram brand.
This is a pretty tricky move from the point of view of business in the domestic market, where Samsung remains the main competitor. Both companies control similar sectors, from microelectronics to household appliances, and a partnership with Apple could encourage customers to come to LG’s store.
Samsung and the Korean authorities are extremely unhappy with the deal, as they have publicly announced. In 2018, the National Association of South Korean Distributors already prohibited LG from selling “direct competitor phones” in its stores, but this condition is no longer relevant with the cessation of smartphone production.