LG jacks up smartphone sales target to 6 mil.

LG Electronics is aiming to sell 6 million smartphones this year, a senior executive exclusively said Tuesday, asking not to be indentified.

The detailed sales target came at a time when LG was in "critical phase" to boost its smartphone presence. 

Even if it meets this target, it would account for only 30 percent of Samsung Electronics' sales. 

Some industry experts believe that the LG goal is ambitious, considering its late start. LG has all but been excluded from the Apple-Samsung smartphone competition, which dragged down its outlook. 

LG has decided to reduce its bloated mobile phone lineup by half to around 70 from last year's 145. 

It plans to release 20 sets of smartphones this year with 15 models being Android phones.

He said that 4.2 million phones will be Android-based, while 1.8 million will use Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system, the executive said. 

"We can't exactly predict the market. But one thing clear is LG is heavily betting on Google’s Android operating system. The number of Android phones will be more than earlier expected," an LG spokesman said.