History of the top five phone manufacturers

LG Electronics

Like Samsung, the other big Korean manufacturer LG encompasses a wide market range, with the mobile phones comprising only a part of it. The company was established in 1958 under the name GoldStar and produced radio receivers, TV sets, and air-conditioners. In 1995, after its merger with the chemical company Lucky and the creation of LG Group, the electronics department was founded. It was named LG Electronics and included a department, responsible for the development of mobile technologies.

Getting into the business started for LG relatively late (only in 1997) with the production of CDMA phones for the American market. It took three years before they achieved their first serious success in the field, supplying a big number of units for Verizon Wireless. Their partnership with the mobile operator was also the key to their leading position in the CDMA market, attained in 2003. Meanwhile, LG managed to establish their presence in Europe, with the first successful phone being the IMT-2000, designed for Italy.

A world expansion followed, aimed at markets that have not been conquered entirely by the older players like Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia, such as Russia, Indonesia, and Australia. Despite having started later, the Koreans managed to achieve considerable success over a short period of time, becoming in 2005 the fourth largest supplier of mobile phones worldwide. It was in the same year that they produced a device supporting mobile television – the first one in history.

Next Page: Sony Ericsson