LG to Make iPhone Batteries Next Year: Report

South Korea's LG Chem is slated to exclusively provide batteries for Apple's iPhone 9 which is likely to be launched next year, a Korean newspaper reported on Friday.

LG Chem has invested hundreds of billions of won in a dedicated line for the purpose and will produce "L-shaped" batteries for next year's iPhone, the Korea Economic Daily reported citing an unnamed chemical industry source.

A spokesman for LG Chem said it does not respond to inquiries about client companies. Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

LG Chem shares rose 3.7 percent in morning trade to their highest level since April 2016. They later pared agains to be up 0.5 percent.

LG Electronics this week launched a new smartphone, the Q8. A new entrant into the Q-Series of smartphones that is meant to offer premium features at a competitive price, the LG Q8 is essentially a smaller version of the LG V20 that was launched last year. Apart from a dual rear camera setup, it also sports a secondary always-on display. It is powered by a Snapdragon 820 SoC that's coupled with 4GB of RAM.


The LG Q8 was launched in Italy, however, there are no details on availability or price for now. The smartphone is also water and dust resistant, with an IP67 rating that allows immersion in up to 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes. It also features 32-bit Quad DAC support, and an infrared emitter.