LG’s Battle of Perception

The way that a product is viewed is important to that product’s overall story. It is the classic Thomas Edison versus Nikola Tesla conundrum. While it can be argued that Tesla was the more innovative mind, the world chooses to remember Edison. Both men were incredibly gifted minds that have contributed to modern innovation. But when history looks back at both men, Edison is viewed as the incredible inventor while Tesla is relegated as the mad scientist. The reason for this is that Edison was able to turn his ideas into commercial success due to his competence as a businessman. A tragedy of perception defines Tesla and Edison. In the modern smartphone world a similar situation has happened to the two South Korean giants of the industry: Samsung and LG.

LG in many regards has kept competing with Samsung and in many ways has bested its neighboring rival. After all, LG has always had better audio and pioneered the ultra wide angle camera before Samsung was able to implement it on their own phones. Year after year, a compelling argument can be made that the LG flagship G and V series compete well against Samsung’s Galaxy S and Note models. Yet the perception of LG as a flagship manufacturer is that they are subpar. A company with bad hardware, gimmicky ideas, and woeful software. A bad reputation to the point where many pundits have wondered why LG still has a mobile division. This reputation has…