Why Did LG Eventually Say ‘Goodbye’ to the Smartphone Market?

LG announced its exit from the smartphone market earlier this week. It wasn't a sudden move as the mobile division of the South Korean company had been making losses for some time. The departure of LG from the smartphone market was a sad moment for at least some loyal customers. On this week's episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, the discussion revolves around the exit of LG from the smartphone market. Counterpoint associate director Tarun Pathak joins host Akhil Arora and Gadgets 360 reviews editor Jamshed Avari to talk about what made LG exit the market and why we saw it coming.

During its time, LG managed to bring some very exciting phones to the market. These include the LG G Flex, which had a self healing back, LG G8X ThinQ with a detachable dual screen, and the recently launched LG Wing with a rotating display. The company also showed off its rollable smartphone concept at CES 2021 that wowed even its critics, and the media. However, those innovations didn't help the company gain against the likes of Apple and Samsung. LG also failed to make use of webOS, or its partnership with Intel that was announced in 2016 to embrace 10-nanometre ARM chips.

Though it has exited the smartphone business, LG could end up making a comeback, along the lines of Nokia and BlackBerry who have found new licensee manufacturers.

LG Says Will Still Roll Out Android 12 for Some Models

The second half of this week's Orbital episode revolves around the new co-op RPG shooter game Outriders — out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X — from People Can Fly, the makers of Gears of War: Judgment and Bulletstorm.

Outriders Review: Fun Co-Op RPG Shooter Gets in Its Own Way​

Gadgets 360 chief sub-editor and gaming enthusiast Shayak Majumder joins host Akhil to talk about the good and the bad of Outriders. The game has struggled with stable servers in the week since launch, and there are some problems with the cross-platform play feature as well. We talk about the four character classes on offer in Outriders — Technomancer, Pyromancer, Trickster, and Devastator — and the types of enemies you'll face in the game. Outriders feels like an amalgamation of other beloved games at times, but it also has some good ideas of its own in the gameplay department.

Listen to the full discussion by following Orbital. The Gadgets 360 podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. Please rate us, and leave a review.

Write to us at podcast@gadgets360.com with your feedback, questions, or comments. New Orbital episodes drop every Friday.