LG Electronics is tipped to be on the brink of cutting back production of PCs in favor of smartphones, tablets, and hybrid computers.
Ha Hyeon-hoe, chief of the firm’s Home Entertainment division, is expected to reveal the strategy shift in a press briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tomorrow (Jan 7), The Korea Times reports, citing a company executive
LG’s Home Entertainment unit produces PCs, TVs, and monitors, while mobile handsets are handled by its Mobile Communications division. Home Entertainment sales fell 7% year-on-year to 5 billion Korean Won (€3.4 million), and while the firm states profitability improved quarter-on-quarter, it doesn’t reveal the figure.
Traditional PC sales are waning as tablets become mainstream. Research firm Canalys predicts tablets will account for half of all PC shipments in 2014, up from 40% in 2013. The firm states tablets were largely responsible for an 18% year-on-year rise in overall PC shipments – desktop, notebook, laptop, and tablet – in 3Q13, as sales of notebooks and laptops fell year-on-year.