LG has just reported a record quarter for mobile phone sales, showing that it’s taking advantage of a slump from arch-rival Samsung. LG sold 14.5 million handsets over the last quarter, its highest total ever and 20 percent more than last year — with more than a third of those LTE models. It chalked up most of the success to its well-reviewed top-of-the-line G3 handset, along with strong sales of its mid-range L products. LG’s mobile division scooped up $3.5 billion and put an end to three straight quarters of losses. Home entertainment also performed well, climbing 3% on the strength of higher-margin UltraHD 4K sets. All that resulted in an operating profit of $599 million, not nearly Samsung-level numbers, but at least LG’s are going up, not down.
