The company announced in April that it would spin off its
mobile division to focus on growth areas including electric vehicle components,
connected devices and smart homes. LG also promised that it would provide three
iterations of the Android operating system update for its premium smartphones.
According to an announcement on the website itself, personal
information collected for providing services and issuing bootloader unlock keys
will not be available after December 31. “However, we do store personal
information for a certain period of time when required by relevant laws and
regulations, LG said in the notice.
Bootloader unlock keys are needed to root/unlock the
smartphone and install custom ROMs. In this case, the bootloader unlock key
that LG provides to root the LG phone and install the custom ROM will not be
available. Those keys are essential for those who want to keep their LG phone
for a longer period as the phone will stop getting updates in future.
After exiting the mobile business by pulling the plug on its
loss-making mobile division, LG said it would provide three Android operating
system updates for its premium smartphones released in 2019.
These phones include the LG G-series smartphones, the LG V-.
series, the LG Velvet, and the most recent LG Wing. The handsets belonging to
the LG K-series will receive two OS updates as they were launched in 2020.
In addition, LG also announced that it will release Android
12 OS update for select phones, despite exiting the smartphone business.
It also said that the rollout will depend on Google’s
distribution schedule and the performance of individual models running the new
software during testing. The South Korean company has not revealed which phones
will get the update.