LG wants your appliances to feel like new

Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company, introduces the Upgradable Home Appliance. [LG ELECTRONICS]

LG Electronics launched a new line of home appliances on Wednesday that allows users to add new features in the form of both hardware and software.

A wide variety of software upgrades and new parts and accessories are promised for what the company has dubbed its Upgradable Home Appliance range.

For instance, if appliance owners adopt a pet, they can change the functions of an air purifier or washing machine through LG’s ThinQ app. In addition, they can get new filters for those machines specially designed for houses with pets.

Software updates and parts with additional functions will be compatible with older LG appliances and primarily free of charge, according to Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company.

LG Electronics plans to introduce the Upgradable Home Appliance concept to 20 product categories this year including washers, dryers, refrigerators, air purifiers and dishwashers.

Another example mentioned by the company is an Upgradable dryer capable of handling dryness levels in a more precise manner: on a scale of 1 to 13 from the current range of 1 to 5.

Prices weren’t announced, but Lyu said the manufacturer will keep the price range competitive.

For the installation of parts and accessories, the company could assign technicians for the service.
The move is intended to keep older appliances up to date as fast-changing tech trends could make appliance owners feel their machines are outmoded.

“Upgradeability challenges the idea that expensive appliances are designed with planned obsolescence in mind,” said Lyu. “We want customers to experience the feeling of getting a new washer or refrigerator throughout the entire lifecycle of an LG appliance, not just the first time they bring the item home.”

Potential customers can try out the new products at LG’s retail shops in Seocho-dong and Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul.
The initial market for the Upgradable Home Appliance will be Korea, but other markets may be added later.

“Since Korean consumers are sensitive to trends, we often try a new service or product in the domestic market first,” a spokesperson at LG Electronics said.
“But the possibility of extending to different markets remains open, although nothing is decided yet,” he said.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]