LG ships record 29.8m phones in spring
updated 03:10 pm EDT, Wed July 22, 2009
LG Ships 29m Phones in Q2
LG claimed to be flying in the face of the phone industry today with claims of a record spring quarter. The company said its worldwide revenue grew 13.8 percent to $11.2 billion but was particularly happy with its cellphone sales, which saw its revenue surge 25.8 percent to almost $4 billion. The Korean company shipped about 29.8 million phones during the period, also a high point for its results, and notes that the results skewed towards more expensive mid-range phones: actual shipments grew a more modest 7.8 percent.
Most of these devices are specifically touchscreen devices and are highlighted by the Arena flagship, Verizon's enV Touch, the Cookie and the budget KS360. The more conventional enV 3 for Verizon also boosted the company's performance. Few of LG's touchscreen devices usually achieve more than a few million sales individually in their lifetimes, but combined make up a disproportionate amount of LG's sales.
Sales in the summer are predicted to be strong with the company planning to launch the BL40 as its first touchscreen Chocolate phone, the Windows Mobile 6.5-equipped GM730 and the GD900, all of which tackle the high-end touchscreen phone market.
The news creates a barrier to smaller companies advancing in market share. Although Apple saw a dramatic increase in iPhone sales year over year, its 5.2 million sales are just over a sixth of the larger company's results. Other major phone producers such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson have seen at times steep year-to-year drops in their own phone shipments are likely to push LG up further in world market share.
