You know it's bad when your mobile business gets trounced by the rival that sold

a smartphone that actually blew up in its customers pockets. That's the situati
on over at LG, whose mobile communications division contrived to lose $389.4 mil
lion across the last three months. In the company's latest financials, it's reve
aled that LG shipped 13.5 million devices and saw US sales increase by 14 percen
t quarter-on-quarter. But that's pretty much the same thing the company achieved
in every quarter since the start of 2014, and that plan stopped making a profit
partway through 2015.
The cause of this mobile malaise isn't exactly a surprise with problems inside a
nd outside LG contributing to the problems. First up, the LG G5 was a flop and t
he V20, which previewed very well, is going to cost $120 more than the comparabl
e Google Pixel. Then there's the fact that the smartphone market ain't what it u
sed to be, and upstart Chinese brands that don't need to worry about profit are
undercutting everyone across the board. Earlier this year, we asked when LG's sm
artphone patience would run out, and on this evidence, it won't be long until so
me accountant asks what the value is in losing $300 - $400 million a quarter.
Ironically, while its mobile division flounders, the rest of LG's actually doing
pretty well, selling $11.8 billion worth of gear and coining a healthy $252.7 m
illion profit. But that cash comes from areas where LG's arguably much stronger,
including home appliances, air conditioners and TVs. In fact, that latter divis
ion recorded a record profit, raking in $340.4 million to help offset those othe
r losses. The firm's nascent vehicle components arm is also growing, although it
's yet to turn a profit, but that's been attributed to R&D spending and investin
g for the future.