LG Elec. revives tablet business to target Korean edtech market 

LG Electronics Inc. is going all in on South Korea’s distance learning market. 

For the first time in three years, the electronics giant has showcased a new line of tablets and computers in a bid to strengthen its foothold in the country’s rapidly growing edtech industry. 

TABLETS AND LAPTOPS  

The business solutions division of LG Electronics recently launched three devices used for e-learning: a new tablet called LG Ultra Tab, and laptops named Whalebook 2-in-1 and LG Gram 2-in-1. 

The new tablet is an Android 12-based device with a 10.35-inch LCD monitor, while the Whalebook is a laptop powered by the Naver Corp.-developed Whale operating system (OS).

The LG Gram is powered by the Microsoft Windows OS.

The last tablet LG launched was G Pad 5 in 2019.

The Ultra Tab launch comes as somewhat of a surprise as LG Electronics folded its mobile phone device business last year, hit by sluggish sales of its cell phone devices.

The new device is targeting both the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) markets. 

The newly released tablet-cum-laptops are also for use in schools and educational institutes. 

Both the Whalebook and the Gram 2-in-1 can be used as a laptop or a tablet. 

But while LG Whalebook is for B2B sale only, the Gram is also available for direct sale to customers. 

DISTANCE LEARNING 

LG is betting on the new releases to catch up to its competitors in pushing out mobile devices for educational purposes. 

Until now, the electronics arm of LG Corp. had released just two devices for use in schools, namely the original Whalebook launched last year and the Chromebook earlier this year. 

Industry insiders forecast the remote learning market to continue to grow on the back of the South Korean government’s initiative to provide at least one smart device to each school student. 

Earlier this year, Taiwan-based computer manufacturer ASUSTek Computer Inc. landed a deal to supply 280,000 units of smart devices to the regional education office in South Gyeongsang Province. 

Thanks to the bulk order, Asus sold the most units in South Korea’s commercial laptop market in the first quarter, ahead of Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics, a first for a foreign manufacturer. 

Based on a projection by the Massachusetts-based International Data Corporation (IDC), the size of South Korea's laptop market for educational purposes will swell to around 720,000 units this year, nine times that of 2019.

Laptops purchased for use at schools are projected to account for 18.24% of all 2022 laptop sales in the country, up from 1% in 2019. 

Write to Sung-Soo Bae at baebae@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.