LG to Provide Three More Updates for Phones
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After announcing on Tuesday that it’s pulling the plug on its struggling smartphone business, LG revealed today that it will provide three more annual Android operating system updates to many consumers who own existing phone models.
The pledge applies to LG premium smartphones released in 2019 and later—specifically the G Series, V Series, Velvet, and Wing models. Other lower-priced 2020 models will receive two operating system updates.
In addition, LG says security updates and technical support will be available “for a period of time for certain devices.”
The South Korean tech giant, which says it will shutter its mobile business by the end of July, plans to keep producing phones for the next few months to meet contractual obligations with wireless carriers and other partners. And the phones will continue to be available for sale.
While they never quite caught on with American consumers in the way models from chief-rival Samsung did, LG’s smartphones often performed fairly well in Consumer Reports’ testing.
In particular, many of LG's premium models supplied industry leading battery life, top-of-the-line processing performance, and, of course, the bright, super-sharp OLED displays characteristic of the company's high-end TVs.
LG was one of the first smartphone makers to add 5G connectivity to the devices it sold in the U.S., starting with the LG V50 ThinQ 5G in 2019 and expanding a year later to mid-priced models like the LG Velvet.
More recently, it launched the LG Wing 5G, which which allows you to rotate the main display to create a T-shaped gimbal for playing games or shooting video. But, aside from its Excellent-quality displays and performance, the $1,000 device lags many similarly priced models when it comes to basics like cameras and battery life.
