A customer looks at LG Electronics Inc.’s G8 ThinQ smartphone in Seoul. (Photo of LG Electronics)

The South Korean firm is scheduled to shut its Pyeongtaek plant near Seoul and shift its production line to Vietnam’s northern port city of Hai Phong. The company currently manufactures smartphones in Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, and China. Its domestic plants mostly produce premium devices. LG Electronics has struggled in the smartphone market for years under intense competition from Samsung and Apple in the hi-end segment and from Chinese manufacturers in the low-end segment. Last year, its gross sales of mobile devices totaled 1.5 billion USD but net losses amounted to 280 million USD due to rising costs.