LG's smartphone business hasn't been doing too hot these last few years, so it came as no surprise earlier tonight when the company announced it's shutting down its mobile division. For distant observers and those of us in the media, we recognize how much the company has brought to the table and how the industry has just lost a key innovator. For customers, though, the shutdown will be felt more closely, as it means they'll have to eventually move on from their existing smartphones. Fortunately, LG doesn't want its existing customers to feel inconvenienced by the news, so they've announced they'll continue to provide software updates. As it turns out, the company may even provide updates to Google's latest OS: Android 12.

In a press release, LG said that it will "provide service support and software updates for customers of existing mobile products for a period of time which will vary by region." For those of you who own an LG phone, you know that the company takes its sweet time to roll out software updates worldwide, so you probably won't be surprised to hear about the company's inconsistent post-shutdown support plan. Over on the company's Korean website, though, they've elaborated a bit further on their software update plans.

LG post-shutdown software update plans

Essentially, the company says that it will continue to roll out the Android 11 OS update for supported models as previously announced. What's more, they're even planning to roll out an update to Android 12 for some devices. However, they warn that their OS upgrade plans may be adjusted based on Google's distribution schedule and the performance of each device while testing the update. Should there be any major issues with the Android 12 update during testing, there's a chance that LG will drop plans to release the update. We hope that's not the case, but if it is, we hope the bootloader-unlockable models will see some love from independent developers on our forums.

To date, LG has rolled out the Android 11 update to a handful of its devices, including the Velvet, V60 ThinQ, and most recently, the G7 One. Other phones expected to get the update later this year include the G8X, G8S, Velvet 4G, Wing, K52, and K42. If the company does actually manage to roll out an Android 12 update, then expect it to land only on its flagship phones that launched with Android 10, such as the Velvet, V60 ThinQ, and Wing.

H/T @Kuma_Sleepy