LG's Chilean phone unit sales slowing but growing in value

LG expects to sell some 7mn phones in Chile in 2014, similar to last year, as turnover slows but increasingly sophisticated consumers seek higher value devices, LG's commercial director for Chile, Paraguay and Bolivia, Gonzalo Hernández, told BNamericas.

LG's experience is in keeping with a trend observed by consultancy IDC, which expects smartphone shipments to increase 28% in 2014 in Latin America's top four smartphone markets - Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina - while expecting a 31% fall in feature phone shipments.

Hernández believes LG is the number two smartphone vendor in Chile. The company is well positioned with the mid-lower income segment but is making a big push to move into the mid-higher end with phones worth over US$400, he said.

Globally, Chinese smartphone manufacturers have been catching up on leaders Samsung and Apple. In Q2, LG had a 4.9% market share behind closest competitors Huawei (6.9%) and Lenovo (5.4%).

IDC predicts that Latin America will see the strongest regional growth in smartphone unit shipments through 2017, growing 23.7% per year, above the worldwide growth rate of 18.4%.

Hernández, who also oversees Paraguay and Bolivia, said that both markets, while less mature than Chile, are starting to take off.

Bolivia is moving some 1.9mn phones a year and Paraguay some 2.5mn, but consumers are increasingly opting for more expensive phones, Hernández said.

All of LG's high-end phones are compatible with 4G LTE technology. Bolivia already has LTE, while Paraguay will launch LTE spectrum in October this year with the AWS (1700-2100MHz), 2600MHz and 700MHz bands all being considered. Chile's three main operators are already offering LTE in the 2.6GHz band and acquired 700MHz spectrum this year.

"The user experience is going to strengthen significantly with the 700MHz band. We're making increasingly cheaper phones that are LTE compatible," Hernández said.

THE SELFIE CAMERA

LG is also taking a leaf out of Apple's book with its new slogan "Simple is the new Smart." The company launched the G3 in Chile last week, a high-end phone with which LG stripped out a lot of the complexity and clutter of applications.

With the G3, the company focused on a bigger screen size and matching improvements in battery life as well as improvements in the all important camera, which at 13MP also has laser auto focus designed to make it the fastest-focusing smartphone camera in the world, according to Tech radar.

Last but not least, the G3 comes with a 2.1MP front camera, which LG calls the "selfie" camera, which with a wider angle allows you to fit more friends into the photo and features gesture recognition.