Earlier this week, LG unexpectedly announced that it is canceling the launch of the Watch Urbane 2nd edition LTE, the first Android Wear smartwatch with LTE capabilities, due to a hardware issue. Since LG did not specify the exact hardware issue, there were rumors that LG canceled the launch of the smartwatch due to the LTE modem unable to work properly with Android Wear. Today, in a statement made to The Telegraph, LG has shot down such rumors and revealed the true reason behind its move. While LG did not reveal the exact component and its supplier who is at fault here, the company did specify in its statement that the issue was with the reliability of one of the new “advanced component” used for the P-OLED display of the Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE. The faulty component could affect LG’s image quality in the long run, which is why the company decided against releasing the smartwatch. LG also emphasises the fact that the faulty component in no way was harmful for the wearer or the smartwatch itself. During aggressive testing over thousands of hours under severe conditions, it was revealed that this component failed to meet LG’s quality standards and could potentially impact our image quality over the life of the device. While LG did a good thing by clarifying why it pulled the Watch Urbane 2nd edition from the market, it did not make it clear on whether it plans on relaunching a new variant of the smartwatch anytime soon or not.
