It has been almost a year since the launch of the LG V60, which in the smartphone world usually means that a successor is on the way. However, new reports claim otherwise, casting further doubt on LG's future in the smartphone business.

Korean publication Chosun claims that LG and the wireless operator have decided not to field test the successor to the LG V60, codenamed Rainbow. The phone was supposed to feature a Snapdragon 888 system-on-chip and also support a stylus. However, it now appears that plans to introduce that phone have been scrapped altogether.

LG declined to comment on the story to Android Authority, which followed up on the Chosun report.

Ultimately, this is another sign that the electronics giant, which is finding that LG is unable to challenge market leaders like Apple and Samsung, may be looking for an exit from its loss-making smartphone business. Earlier this year, reports circulated that LG was considering an exit from the smartphone market, which an LG spokesperson admitted to us at the time.

"I can confirm that LG Electronics is exploring various options given the headwinds facing our mobile business," the spokesperson told Tom's Guide in January. 'Any further comment would be speculative.'

Now, that speculation is likely to increase with this latest report, which focuses a lot on LG's folding phone plans: at CES in January, LG showed off the LG Rollable, a phone with an expandable screen that essentially convert it into a tablet. During its CES keynote, LG said that the LG Rollable would debut in 2021, but speculation that the company is interested in continuing to make smartphones has apparently raised questions about its launch.

LG denied other South Korean reports casting doubt on the future of the LG Rollable, with an LG spokesperson telling The Verge in February, in response to a Yonhap News report that the Rollable phone project was on hold, "We have made no such decision regarding future mobile products and We categorically deny that any such decision has been made regarding future mobile products."

It is possible that the apparent cancellation of the LG V60 successor will not affect LG's efforts to launch a cell phone with a rollable display; although the LG V60 reviewers particularly appreciated the long-lasting battery, the LG V60 was a fairly orthodox mobile phone. It was a phone that allowed optional secondary screen accessories to be attached to the handset, though. Perhaps LG thinks it is better to focus its smartphone efforts on innovatively designed handsets like the LG Rollable than to launch a successor to a phone that fails to differentiate itself from the rest of the Android crowd.

LG has certainly tried to find ways to make its phones stand out in recent years, as highlighted by the release of the LG Velvet last spring. These phones removed the alpha-numeric naming convention that has come to define most phones, with an emphasis on design. However, while we were generally favorable to the LG Velvet, its new approach did not overturn the fate of LG's smartphones.

Perhaps the LG Rollable will. Or perhaps it will end up like the successor to the LG V60, another project that is surging as the Korean company moves closer to exiting the smartphone space, as it apparently is.