LG Electronics to Work More Closely with Dolby, B&O

According to industry sources, the technological partnership between LG Electronics and Harman International Industries terminates at the end of this year and LG Electronics is planning to work more closely with Dolby Laboratories instead.

This is because Samsung Electronics acquired Harman last year. As Harman is now a subsidiary of Samsung, LG Electronics cannot but feel uncomfortable in working with Harman. LG Electronics’ Signature OLED TV, which made its debut last year, used Harman Kardon audio technology. However, the LG Signature OLED TV W made its debut early this year with Dolby Atmos.

“We are not planning to extend our partnership contract with LG Electronics,” said a high-ranking executive at Harman, adding, “Our business and management are independent of Samsung Electronics, but we cannot but take into account the business conditions and situations related to Samsung Electronics as our parent company.”

LG Electronics is cooperating closely with Bang & Olufsen, too. For instance, the latter’s audio technology has been adopted for the former’s G5 and V30 smartphones released last year and this year, respectively. In addition, B&O and LG Electronics displayed their BeoVision Eclipse OLED TV at IFA 2017.