LG

LG is a South Korean consumer electronics company that makes — among other things — smartphones, tablets and computers that are sold around the world. It also has many subdivisions that make many of the components that are used by its own smartphones and tablets, as well as sourced by several other major phone manufacturers. LG is probably best known for the displays, chips and batteries it makes for mobile devices.

The vast majority of all phones and tablets LG makes run Android, while its computers run Windows and now Chrome OS. Thanks to its massive scale, LG has several different smartphone lines that bring its products to a variety of price points in markets around the world. Although many wouldn't normally think it, the company has been gaining phone market share both in its home country of South Korea — where it competes directly with Samsung — and in Western markets in recent years.

For many years, LG's phones followed the "Optimus" brand, which saw the name tacked onto most devices that were sold. Since the end of 2013, LG has moved to single letters that denote the different smartphone lines — aka the "L Series" and "F Series" — with the best-known devices in the Western markets taking the "G Series" name, such as the G2, G Pro 2 and G Flex.

LG's 2014 flagship is the LG G3, a large Android smartphone with the first quad HD display. LG also had one of the first Android Wear smartwatches and is expected to roll out more this year.

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