LG Electronics said Wednesday that it will set a 35-million-unit smartphone sales target this year, with plans for smartphones to grow to 70 percent of its handset portfolio.

In an earnings briefing at its headquarters in Yeouido, its chief financial officer Jung Do-hyun said the company will produce less feature phones and focus on the premium smartphone lineup, especially smartphones that run on the fourth generation Long Term Evolution network.

“We will not make feature phones if profits aren’t earned,” he said. “We will decrease the production size for feature phones and increase the portion of LTE handsets.”

He also said the most important point to watch is whether the firm manufactures an LTE hit model, increasing the number of units in production and covering the fixed costs.

“Although I don’t expect the company to record a big loss again in the future, it will take some time to post a meaningful figure in profits,” said Jung.

In the meantime, the LG executive also said that the next Optimus LTE handset model will roll out with the release of the Qualcomm one chip solution.

“It really depends on when the chip solution is available in the market,” he added.



By Cho Ji-hyun
(sharon@heraldcorp.com)