LG Shops to Sell iPhones After Closure of Phone Business
28 June, 2021
LG is seeking to sell iPhones from its digital appliance shops now that it has shut down its own smartphone business.
That is bad news for Samsung, which worries about its market share if its chief international rival Apple has a bigger physical presence here.
LG wants to sell iPhones, iPads and Apple watches at around 400 stores nationwide from August. Greater visibility for Apple could erode Samsung's market lead on its home turf.
Samsung accounted for 65 percent of the Korean smartphone market last year over Apple's 20 percent and LG's 13 percent, which is a much bigger lead than elsewhere in the world.
The tie-up between LG and Apple clearly caught Samsung off guard. When LG announced it was pulling out of the smartphone market early this year, the prevailing view was that its customers would dutifully move over to domestic powerhouse Samsung because both use the Android operating system.
But an industry insider said Samsung's hopes were dashed when it "ended up facing a greater threat from Apple. Also, if young customers loyal to Apple products flock to LG stores, Samsung's home appliance sales could take a hit as well."
Small mobile phone shops are also unhappy. An association of mobile sellers in a statement said, "If LG sells iPhones, small merchandizers will suffer a huge impact. This violates a co-prosperity pact signed by large and small companies in the industry in May 2018," where Samsung and LG pledged to sell only their own brands in their shops.
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