LG Plans $12 Billion Investment in Smartphones, Tablets, Displays

After a dismal third quarter and being late to announced a high-end flagship smartphone, LG is hoping that 2011 will be a better year; the smartphone-maker will be investing about $12.6 billion, or nearly 70 percent of its $18 billion investment, in 2011 in key consumer electronic businesses.

The $12.6 billion investment would be dedicated to business units such as the mobile group, which includes smartphones, tablet computing devices, and advanced flat panels.

The South Korean electronics maker is battling its rival Samsung in a number of categories; both companies are building out their smartphone roadmap, which includes Windows Phone 7 and ANdroid devices. LG currently offers the Quantum Windows Phone 7 through AT&T and the company has been relatively successful in the low-end Android space with the Optimus One series. Now, the company is looking to tackle the high-end market.

“LG will invest 16.3 trillion won on capital investment next year to strengthen our market dominance in new growth sectors and our core businesses,” LG said in a statement.

2011’s investments in these key growth markets is about 11.7% higher than the company’s 2010 investment. LG will be dedicating a record 4.7 trillion won on research and development.

The company had talked about a tablet product in the past, and a rumored Optimus Pad is forthcoming, though pricing and availability information are not available.

Casey Pham
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: LG, optimus, Smartphones