It’s been a tumultuous year for LG in the mobile space. After announcing that the company has begun scaling back from a yearly launch cycle for their mobile devices, the LG CEO has reportedly ordered that the upcoming G7 handset be re-designed from scratch.
The report comes from the Korea Herald, who says that Jo Seong-jin, vice chairman and CEO of LG Electronics, ordered the current G7 design be scrapped after CES last week. Seong-Jin reportedly told designers of the handset to ‘review the new product from scratch’.
The review of the phone will delay the announcement of the phone, which was expected to occur at Mobile World Congress next month, until at least April, with a decision on the launch date to be made during the Lunar New Year holiday next month.
The decision to review the design of the phone in January, with an expectation of launching in April brings into question how much the design can be changed at this late stage. Setting up the manufacturing process in terms of re-tooling the assembly line etc. can take time, but as LG owns the line it’s possible they can do it.
LG hasn’t had the best of luck with phone launches in the past few years, with their mobile division currently delivering a loss on the last 11 quarterly financial statements. Whether a delay to re-design and re-think the phone is a good idea, we’ll possibly never know, but the proof will be in the G7 pudding when it’s finally announced.
