In line with the latest reports saying LG is re-strategising its mobile business, the company seems to be working on a new series of smartphones. LG could soon launch a smartphone under the brand Icon and a smartwatch under the name Iconic. LG is already said to have noted that it will take a departure from its annual smartphone launch cycle. These moves by LG could be seen as a strategy to revamp its struggling smartphone business that has been incurring losses for several quarters now.
Coming back to the new nomenclature, according to the database of USPTO (the United States Patent and Trademark Office), LG has filed trademarks for a smartphone under the names: LG Icon, LG Aicon, and LG Aiconn. Additionally, it has also filed a trademark for the name ‘Iconic’ for a smartwatch. Famous tipster Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) first spotted the trademark and tweeted : “With LG rumoured to be rebranding its flagship G-series, I noticed that the company just trademarked “LG Icon” for a smartphone and “Iconic” for a smartwatch.”
It remains to be seen if LG will rebrand the G series with Icon or whether it will launch smartphones under that name at all. Companies use the trademark filing to secure a particular name for their future products. They are at a discretion to keep or discard them.
Meanwhile, LG, at CES 2018, has reportedly said that will no longer fix a regular timeline to announce its handsets. Usually, it releases the G-Series smartphones in the first half of the year and the V-series in the second half. Alongside the shift from launch cycles, LG has also made it clear that it will release more variants of its existing lineup. The South Korean consumer electronics giant was expected to announce its latest flagship smartphone at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona.
LG has reportedly said that it will not unveil new smartphones “just because other rivals do”. Instead, it wants to increase the longevity of its existing lineup of smartphones by launching more “variant models in the G series or V series.”
Interestingly, a ZDNet report quoted CEO and Vice Chairman Jo Seong-jin (aka Cho Sung-jin), as saying, “If there is something that is needed to be changed, we will change it.” This is another hint at the changing of the name of the G-Series, or even the V-Series. Another report from South Korea has said that LG will be dumping the G brand and will not name the first flagship smartphone of 2018 as the G7.
Based on these reports, LG is clearly reassessing its smartphone business and everything is up for a change.
[“Source-ndtv”]
