From mobile gadgets to automobiles?

Yes, it seems that Korean company, LG, is set on expanding its horizons, and it has set its sights on cars. But no, the company is not going to make automobiles. LG just wants to turn ordinary vehicles into smart cars, as is the trend these days.

According to Engadget, when summarizing LG's financial status, life is good, as they are making decent profit from their hardware sales, and in the last quarter alone, they were able to sell over 15.4 million smartphones, (a 26% increase from the same period last year) all because they have become more and more popular in the United States, bringing with it a sizable amount of cash profits.

Past that, the company also started a new division in 2013 --- the LG Vehicle Components. Although that area hasn't been making a lot of money yet, with the tech industry revolutionizing transportation, LG believes that there will be a demand for it later on.

Phandroid noted that much of the success of LG's success in mobile is credited to the LG G Flex 2, which is by far the most intriguing release of the year.

In the LG financial report for the first quarter of the year, the company stated, "The company recorded revenues of KRW 382.6 billion (USD 347.82 million) in the first quarter mainly from its car infotainment business which includes telematics and audio-video navigation systems. Despite a modest operating loss of KRW 2.4 billion (USD 2.18 million), LG will continue its investment in R&D, confident that the market for car infotainment, electric car components and automotive electronic components will grow with the popularity of electric and smart cars."

In other LG news, Android Authority reported that the company has officially announced the LG G4. According to the website, the newest launch has a 5.5-inch LCD Quantum Dot display with 2560 x 1440 resolution, packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragn 808 hexa-core processor, and with 3 GB RAM. It's a 32-GB gadget, expandable to 128GB via microSD, and with a 16MP, f/1.8, color spectrum sensor, OIS, laser-assisted focus main camera. The front one is not so shabby, with 8MP for selfies. It also operates on Android 5.0 Lollipop, and comes in different colors: Gray, gold, and white plastic, or black, brown, red, sky blue, beige, or yellow leather finishes.

Although these updates for the LG G4 is pretty much expected, however, the website has noted that the 808 processor is not exactly the latest, as Qualcomm already released the Snapdragon 810. LG may explain that later on, though.

With these updates and financial statements, do you think LG has what it takes to compete with other giant brands such as Apple and Samsung?