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The K7i smartphone with a price tag of 7,900 rupees (US$120), unveiled last week at India Mobile Congress 2017, can keep mosquitoes at bay through a designated app that activates selected ultrasonic frequency. Photo: LG

LG Electronics claims new smartphone for India can repel mosquitoes

LG claims phone can keep mosquitoes at bay through a designated app that activates selected ultrasonic frequency

Technology

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. is set to launch a smartphone with “mosquito away technology” in India in a bid to leverage its minuscule market share on the back of its popular television and air conditioner models with similar features.

The K7i smartphone with a price tag of 7,900 rupees (US$120), unveiled last week at India Mobile Congress 2017, can keep mosquitoes at bay through a designated app that activates selected ultrasonic frequency.

It is “absolutely safe and harmless for humans,” LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned local subsidiary, said.

The company was “encouraged by positive responses” from local consumers to its home appliance products with similar functions, said Kim Ki-wan, managing director of the subsidiary.

Around 95 per cent of the Indian population lives in areas at risk of malaria. Annually, more than 100 million blood slides are examined for the disease in the country, with around one million cases reported, according to the World Health Organisation.

“As a responsible brand, we would like to introduce products based on Indian consumer insights,” Kim added.

Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, which tracks the mobile phone market in India, told NNA that such a move, however, may not help the company push its smartphone sales in the country dominated by another South Korean brand Samsung with a market share of around 28 per cent and Chinese brands.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Number may well be up for mosquitoes
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