Katarzyna Petru
The end of January 2026 brought long-awaited specifics from the LG camp. The Korean giant not only maintained its position as a leader but also achieved the highest annual revenue in its history of 89.2 trillion won. This marks the second consecutive year that the company has pushed the boundaries of its own capabilities, although it has not been without challenges in terms of profitability.
Massive growth in subscription profits?
The biggest surprise this report brings is the success of “hardware” subscription services (a model extremely popular in Asia). If you thought it was just an industry curiosity, the numbers tell a different story. According to the official LG Newsroom, revenue from subscription-based models rose by 29% and approached 2.5 trillion won. For LG, this is a golden business. Instead of fighting for a customer every 5-10 years when selling a fridge, the company earns monthly from service fees, maintenance, and additional features in such a model. It is these stable revenues that have allowed them to fill gaps in poorer quarters.
The report also mentions revenue from the webOS platform in televisions, so one can speculate that a significant portion of profits from the subscription model actually comes from the operating system on LG televisions.
For the uninitiated: Every operating system manufacturer receives a commission for each subscription from streaming platforms (e.g. Netflix, Disney) purchased on their products. Thus, LG is becoming not only a hardware manufacturer but also an intermediary in the world of VOD.
LG Display back in the black
According to a report from OLED-info, LG Display closed 2025 with revenues of around $18 billion and a net profit of $360 million. This is a remarkable turnaround, considering that just recently the company was counting losses in the billions. How did this happen? LG Display went all in. The share of OLED panels in their revenue jumped to a record 61% (for comparison: in 2020 it was only 32%). The strategic farewell to the production of large LCD panels for televisions in favour of more advanced organic matrices proved to be a stroke of genius.
Laptops more important than TVs?
This is probably the most surprising technical speculation of the year. It turns out that it's not TVs that are currently the "apple of LG Display's eye." Let's take a look at the revenue breakdown according to various industry reports:
IT Panels (laptops, monitors, tablets): approx. 37%
Smartphones and other devices: approx. 36%
TV Panels: approx. 19%
Automotive: approx. 8%
This is a clear signal that the IT segment has become the main driving force of the company. The transition of the computer market to OLED and the popularity of large organic displays in new cars (which we've also discussed in the context of Samsung) is a real goldmine for LG Display.
The management of LG Display does not intend to rest on its laurels and has announced significant investments in the development of OLED technology in the coming year. It seems that 2026 will be marked by the "oledisation" of everything, from our desks to the dashboards in cars. However, LG has shown that it can earn money not only from glass production but also by being the centre of our digital lives, for which we are increasingly willing to pay in the form of a monthly subscription.
Source: LG Newsroom, OLED-info
