News

LG To Withdraw From Smartphone Market Due To Ongoing Losses

After nearly 6 years of losses, South Korea’s LG Electronics has decided to completely withdraw from the smartphone market and focus on other areas instead.

Published

5 years ago

April 7, 2021

Joanna Melki

lg to withdraw from smartphone market due to ongoing losses

After nearly six years of losses, South Korea’s LG Electronics has decided to withdraw from the smartphone market and focus on other areas instead, including home electronics, connected devices, and smart vehicle components.

The total losses of the LG’s mobile division amount to $4.5 billion even though the brand currently enjoys the third place in the United States, after Apple and Samsung Electronics.

“In the United States, LG has targeted mid-priced — if not ultra-low — models and that means Samsung, which has more mid-priced product lines than Apple, will be better able to attract LG users,” commented Ko Eui-young, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities.

For a long time, LG was considered to be one of the most innovative smartphone manufacturers, pioneering ultra-wide-angle cameras, dual-display devices, vein-tracking aerial gestures, and swappable components. Unfortunately, most of its innovations failed to gain any significant traction among consumers.

To make things even worse, some of the more recent flagship models have suffered both software and hardware problems, and professional reviewers were quick to point them out, steering potential buyers toward other brands.

LG Smartphone Market Share

Currently, LG’s global share is only around 2 percent, with 23 million smartphones shipped last year. When compared with Samsung’s 256 million shipped units, the company’s decision to withdraw from the smartphone market suddenly becomes easier to understand.

Also Read: Huawei Wants To Make Long-Range Wireless Charging A Reality

It’s also worth pointing out that successful Chinese brands, such as Xiaomi, Vivo, and OPPO, have greatly increased buyers’ expectations by offering flagship specifications at mid-range prices.

The good news is that current employees of LG’s mobile division won’t lose their jobs — at least not those who are based in South Korea. Instead, they will be moved to other electronics divisions. Owners of LG smartphones also have nothing to worry about because both service support and software updates will continue to be provided even in the near future.

News

Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”

Instagram’s first wordmark refresh in a decade arrives with new fonts, a restrained gradient — and a Reddit verdict of sidegrade.

Published

4 days ago

August 14, 2026

Nour Nasir

Instagram

Although Instagram’s famous camera icon hasn’t changed, the company has refreshed the handwritten wordmark at the top of its app. This is the first redesign we’ve seen in ten years, and one the internet promptly set about renaming.

“The wordmark at the top of the app hasn’t changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on August 13, describing the new version as “cleaner and more modern” while keeping references to the original design.

Instagram says its team explored hundreds of options — all-caps lettering, camera-inspired concepts, even literal handwriting — before returning to script. “Script reflects individuality, so referencing that felt right,” Instagram director of product design Jasmine Probst said in Meta’s announcement. “The new wordmark is bolder and simpler, with touches of unexpectedness. It cues individual expression, a personal voice, both of which have always been core to Instagram”.

The wordmark is part of a broader brand overhaul: an updated Instagram Sans typeface, two new fonts — the hand-drawn Instagram Pen and Instagram Mono — plus refreshed motion and layouts, and more restrained use of the signature gradient. The wordmark is rolling out globally now, with the rest arriving throughout 2026 and beyond.

Also Read: Spotify Will Now Tell You If Your Favorite Artist Isn’t Real

The design mixes cursive and print lettering, some characters connected and others floating free. That hybrid approach, combined with unusually shaped “s” and “r” characters, led some users to conclude the logo actually reads “Instagzam”. On the r/logodesign subreddit, one user said the wordmark looked “fan-made,” like something built in Canva; another called it “an unsettling mix of manuscript and cursive”; a third summarized it as a “sidegrade” — or, inevitably, a “zidegrade”.

Not everyone was hostile to the new look. Some found the half-cursive design stylish and surprisingly readable, while others called it an improvement on its predecessor, and one commenter argued Instagram was simply adopting minimalist branding later than everyone else. Either way, the platform now has a refreshed identity, three updated fonts, and an unofficial new pronunciation.