LG takes third place in handset wars

January 20, 2017

South Korea-based LG Electronics (LGE) shipped over 100 million handsets in 2016, edging ahead of Motorola and Sony Ericsson to take third place in the global handset market for the first time in its history.

This represents a 25% increase compared to the 80.7 million handsets shipped by the company in 2015.

An LG spokesperson said the company aims to maintain its ‘premium image’ whilst competing aggressively in the low-tier market.

In particular, it will focus on customer service as a way of continuing its strong reputation.

Michael Ahn, president and CEO of LG North America, said: “Our goal for this year is to provide the best customer service in North America.

“Year 2017 will be challenging in many ways, but this is an opportunity for LG to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”

World leader Nokia shipped 470 million handsets in 2016, whilst second placed Samsung shipped 200 million.

Scraping in behind LGE, Motorola shipped 99.9 million handsets, whilst Sony Ericsson shipped 96.6 million.