LG unveils new 4G smartphone

PanARMENIAN.Net - LG Electronics Inc, the world's No.3 handset maker, on Monday, October 10, launched a new smartphone that runs on South Korea's fast, fourth-generation network, in the company's latest attempt to rescue its loss-making handset business.

According to Reuters, the Optimus LTE will square off against Samsung Electronics Co's 4G version of its flagship Galaxy S model and Apple's new iPhone, which runs on standard 3G network, during the key year-end holiday season.

The high-end model comes after LG suffered five consecutive quarterly losses from handset sales and is set to report a wider loss for the September quarter later this month due to a lack of attractive high-end models.

"Optimus LTE is our ambitious product that mobilizes our LTE and display technologies," Na Young-bae, senior vice president and head of LG's domestic marketing, told reporters.

LG said it has yet to decide when the product will go on sale in overseas markets. It has some 1,400 LTE patents, which some analysts estimate are worth $8 billion.

LG is expected to report that loss margins from handset sales worsened in the third quarter to around 3 percent from 1.7 percent loss margin in the second quarter, due to reduced volume shipments after it trimmed feature phone lineups to focus on smartphones.