Seeing that LG is about to sell iPhones, Samsung frantically tries to prevent it

After withdrawing from the smartphone business, LG is facing the question of what to do with the floor space and the staff of Best Shop, a chain of stores formerly dedicated to LG handsets, with more than 400 locations all over Korea. And the new plan is to switch to selling iPhones with Apple devices. But this direction by LG is something that another South Korean tech giant, Samsung, is very upset about.

As reported by Business Korea , LG has begun looking to stock up on Apple products at its Best Shop brick-and-mortar store chain, which will continue to sell other LG products such as high-end TVs after the company leaving the phone market.

LG has more than 400 Best Shop stores in Korea.

And it seems that Samsung has decided to stop it. And the reason is that LG will violate an agreement signed in May 2018 called “Agreement of Coexistence between Small and Medium Enterprises in the Mobile Communications Business”. The agreement contains content that requires manufacturers like LG or Samsung to only sell phones they make at their own stores or retail locations. Therefore, LG’s sale of Apple’s phone would violate this agreement.

However, LG stated that in the aforementioned agreement it is noted that renegotiation may take place in the event of a major change in the general circumstances. And the “big change” here is that LG has pulled out of the smartphone business. Meanwhile, the above agreement is made to protect manufacturers, so renegotiation is necessary.

Co-selling iPhone can be beneficial for both parties, Apple and LG.

LG’s physical retail presence in South Korea is important, so it’s understandable that Samsung is feeling threatened by the move, especially since Apple has jumped to the top of the market. market with 29.8% market share of 5G phone sales with the iPhone 12 series alone. Samsung is currently in fourth place in terms of 5G handsets. And clearly, in the context that Samsung’s 5G smartphone market share is being pushed back by Apple, expanding iPhone sales will deal a big blow to the Galaxy phone line.

According to the HeraldCorp , Samsung is said to be trying to pressure the three major South Korean mobile service providers – SK Telecom, KT Corp and LG Uplus – to push their phone lines to appear in the market. chain Best Shop.

iPhone 13 is about to hit the shelves next September and time for Samsung is not much. The company has to find a suitable solution to get rid of the situation where the main competitor squeezes the flagship smartphone market share in its home country.

Moreover, Samsung also needs to take this issue seriously as it can have a big impact on home appliances sold by LG Best Shop. Because demand from consumers poured into the iPhone could lead to LG being able to easily sell more home appliances through bundled products.

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