LG published its first quarter financial report today, giving us insight into the company's finances and future plans.
The report said that recently, LG has seen strong growth in its smartphone sales, while sales of TVs declined slightly. These two variables offset each other, however, and LG's combined revenue from all divisions showed little change, coming in at $12.72 billion USD.
Probably the most interesting info in this document refers to LG's Vehicle Components Company. This division of LG was first founded back in July 2013, but this is the first time the division has reported its revenue.
Recently, other companies such as Apple and Samsung have been rumored to be working on electric cars, and releasing this information now appears to be LG's way of reminding the world that it is already in the automotive market. Currently, this division of LG only produces components for other cars, but that could change in the future.
LG's Vehicle Components Company suffered a minor operating loss of $2.18 million USD during the first quarter of 2015, but LG plans to continue investing in and growing the division. Electric cars are becoming increasingly popular, and with LG's competitors in the smartphone market developing electric cars, it wouldn't be surprising for LG to do the same. Because LG already produces electric car components, the company might even have a head start against the competition.
LG also mentioned its plans to grow TV sales throughout the year, focusing more on 4K TVs and OLED TVs. Similar to when LCD displays were first introduced, sales of older CRT-based displays quickly dried up.
With the industry moving to 4K displays, lower resolution displays below full HD quality will likely suffer a similar fate to CRT displays, while 1080p HD displays will become even more common than they already are. Many people currently using 1080p displays will likely move to 4K in the future, too, which makes increasing 4K production now seem like a smart idea for LG.
We will have to wait to see what LG does next, as this report might foreshadow an LG car and a greater number of 4K displays coming to the market in the near future.
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