Final Countdown: LG to Halt Smartphone Updates Forever on June 30, 2023

LG declared its withdrawal from the mobile phone sector in 2021. During that announcement, the South Korean manufacturer assured its customers that it would continue to provide updates for qualifying devices for a three-year span. The company is now preparing to deactivate its servers responsible for distributing smartphone updates. Once this occurs, LG smartphones will no longer be capable of receiving new Android OS updates. Moreover, customers will not be able to retrieve default applications that were removed during initialization.

LG Smartphone Users Have Two Months to Update Their Devices

A notification on the LG Electronics support page indicates that the corporation will discontinue its smartphone update services in the coming two months. The company will deactivate the LG Electronics Mobile Phone Software Upgrade (FOTA), Update Centre, and LG Bridge servers on June 30 at 12am KST (8:30pm IST).

Post this date, LG devices will not be able to download or implement Android updates. All software upgrade services, inclusive of Service Centre updates, will cease.

Furthermore, LG has stated it will discontinue app-based update services. Users will not have the ability to download default applications that were deleted initially. «The personal data acquired for these services will be promptly destroyed upon conclusion of the services,» stated LG. Personal data will be held in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and internal policies.

Owners of LG devices with pending updates are urged to perform updates as soon as possible. Users of LG smartphones may find themselves deprived of numerous new features, given that the most recent Android version accessible to them is nearly three versions behind Android 15. The absence of security updates may render the devices more susceptible to malware threats.

This announcement follows nearly four years after the company exited the smartphone market. LG notified about its market exit in April 2021, stating its intention to redirect its resources towards growth areas like electric vehicle components, smart home technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, business solutions, and platforms and services.

The mobile division had been incurring losses for an extended period. During that time, the company committed to delivering three years of Android updates for all premium models launched in 2019 or afterwards.