[CES 2024] From TV Hardware to Platform Provider... LG Electronics' Major Transformation

"TV, Changing from Watching to Enjoying"
webOS Platform Business Aiming for Trillion-Won Scale Growth
Expansion of Products Applying webOS Upgrades

LG Electronics is accelerating its transformation from a product (hardware)-centric business to one focused on content, services, and customer experience, based on the perspective that "customers buy experiences, not products."

On the 10th (local time), LG Electronics held a briefing at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) in the United States, where CES 2024, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, is taking place, to introduce its TV business vision and strategy. The event was attended by Executive Vice President Jo Byungha, Head of HE Platform Business, Executive Vice President Lee Jungseok, Head of Audio Business, and Senior Vice President Baek Seonpil, Head of HE Product Planning.

LG Electronics HE Platform Business Division Executive Vice President Byung-ha Cho speaking at an event introducing the TV business vision and strategy on the 10th (local time) / Photo by LG Electronics

LG Electronics explained, "The role of TVs is rapidly changing from just viewing to enjoying," adding, "In line with this trend, we are accelerating our transition to a 'media & entertainment platform company' by adding content, services, and advertising areas to differentiated product competitiveness such as LG OLED and QNED."

LG Electronics has established its TV business vision to realize a better life for customers as 'Sync to You, Open to All.' This means focusing on customer experience throughout all processes from product development to purchase and use, and enabling everyone to freely enjoy screen experiences tailored to individual tastes and lifestyles.

At the core of this vision is the proprietary smart TV platform 'webOS,' which marked its 10th anniversary this year since its first deployment in 2014. webOS is currently installed on over 200 million TVs worldwide, establishing itself as the platform symbolizing LG smart TVs.

In addition to LG smart TVs, LG Electronics plans to expand the platform ecosystem by supplying webOS to other TV brands and different product lines, aiming to increase the webOS business scale to 300 million units by 2026. Based on this, LG will nurture the webOS platform business into a substantial enterprise with trillion-won-level sales.

From the left, Baek Seonpil, LG Electronics HE Product Planning Manager (Senior Vice President), and Jo Byeongha, LG Electronics HE Platform Business Manager (Executive Vice President), are briefing /
[Photo by LG Electronics]

Furthermore, to allow existing TV users to enjoy the differentiated TV experience of the latest webOS, the 'webOS Re:New program' will expand its target models and product lines to include all 2022 OLED TVs, 8K QNED, and extend support to all global countries.

In the hardware domain, LG Electronics will enhance its market leadership. While solidifying its number one leadership in the OLED TV market, it will strengthen competitiveness by expanding the QNED large-screen lineup, a premium LCD TV with high color reproduction, based on a dual-track strategy to lead the premium market.

At CES 2024 this year, the company unveiled the 77-inch wireless transparent OLED TV, 'LG SIGNATURE OLED T.' Moving forward, LG will strengthen market leadership by emphasizing ▲the world's first expansion of wireless OLED lineup ▲a next-level dedicated AI picture and sound processor Alpha 11 ▲precise brightness control technology ▲clean design that fits installation spaces ▲and differentiated customer experiences beyond WebOS-based TVs.

Additionally, LG will fully deploy OLED picture and sound technologies, recognized as the highest level currently available, into LG QNED, expanding the large-screen lineup led by the 98-inch QNED TV to strengthen competitiveness in the premium TV market. In the continuously growing premium LCD TV market, LG plans to respond to diverse customer demands with a full QNED TV lineup (43, 50, 55, 65, 75, 86, 98 inches) covering small to large sizes.