Money-losing endeavor to stay in the cut-throat smartphone race has taken a toll on South Korea’s second largest electronics company LG Electronics, delivering its first operating loss in six years in the final quarter of 2016.

LG Electronics on Wednesday reported an operating loss of 35.2 billion won ($30.41 million) for the fourth quarter ended December, sharply reversing from 283.2 billion won profit in the previous quarter and 349 billion won in the same period in 2015 largely due to poor performance of the new premium flagship phone. Sales totaled 14.8 trillion won, up 11.7 percent on quarter and 1.5 percent on year. The last time it ran into a deficit in operation was in the final quarter of 2010.

Shares of LG Electronics closed Thursday at 53,200 won, down 1.85 percent in Seoul trading.

The disappointing quarterly performance stems from struggling mobile communications division, which suffered an operating loss of 467 billion won alone in the fourth quarter. For full year, the wireless business lost 1.3 trillion won, a loss figure LG Electronics never experienced from a single business operation.

Its heavily invested G5 flagship that was out in the second quarter sold a mere 3 million units around the world, well below its break-even target of 5 million units, despite absence of a local rival Galaxy Note7 of Samsung Electronics that was pulled out due to safety concerns.

Premium home appliances helped to save face for the electronics giant. Home appliance and air conditioner division raised 150.1 billion won in operating profit on sales of 4.04 trillion won in the fourth quarter. For full year, it earned 1.33 trillion won. TV set division earned 164 billion won for the fourth quarter and 1.24 trillion won.

For the whole of 2016, LG Electronics posted 1.34 trillion won in operating income, up 12.2 percent on year. Sales fell 2 percent to 55.37 trillion won.

Despite the losses, LG Electronics plans to stay in the wireless competition and is more hopeful for the next flagship series G6 slated to be unveiled in February.

By Kim Dong-eun

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