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LG Is Abandoning the Modular Smartphone Idea (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the out-the-window dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: LG's modular phone accessory strategy that served as the primary differentiator for last year's G5 smartphone appears to be no more. The Wall Street Journal reports that the South Korean company is pivoting away from the plug-in "Friends" modules for the upcoming G6 device after lackluster sales for the G5. Per The Wall Street Journal, an LG spokesperson commented that consumers aren't interested in modular phones. The company instead is planning to focus on functionality and design aspects for the upcoming G6, which Chief Technologist Skott Ahn says will be released "in the very near future." According to the WSJ, the LG G6 will arrive "in the very near future," which suggests the phone will launch at Mobile World Congress next month.

3 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. My favorite modular phone feature is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    It puzzles me that so many expensive premium phones expoxy in the battery so that while the elaborate design, glass, aluminum, and top spec cpu/ram would last 5 years easily, the phone is near useless at 2 years.

    Even more baffling is some of the modular phones STILL have an expoxied battery... wtf. Like some music amp module is more useful than a fresh charged battery.

  2. Never had a chance... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hate to say it, but a bad idea in search of a problem...

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  3. Modularity wasn't the problem by GuB-42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The idea behind the G5 modularity is a good one but their implementation sucked.
    - It is a metal phone that looks plastic. What's the big idea? For phones, plastic is superior in almost all areas except look. LG got is backwards here.
    - Their flagship camera grip module is a failure. You couldn't even turn on the camera using the physical button, and the extra battery was so poorly managed that it is no better than a generic external battery pack.
    - Poor build quality, poor software, and LG doesn't have an especially good track records when it comes to reliability.
    - Not very developer-friendly (locked bootloader, root, etc...). Few people actually care about that but those who are interested in modular phones are more likely to be in this group.