LG Electronics on Wednesday reported its first quarterly operating loss in six years as it failed to revive its money-losing smartphone business amid weaker sales of home appliances.

LG posted an operating loss of 35.2 billion won (US$30.1 million) for the October-December period last year, compared with a profit of 348.9 billion won for the same quarter in 2015.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 1.5 percent on year to 14.7 trillion won, LG said.

Net loss widened to 258.7 trillion won for the fourth-quarter of last year, from a loss of 140.4 billion won for the same quarter in 2015.

For all of 2016, LG posted an operating profit of 1.3 trillion won on sales of 55.3 trillion won.

With its new smartphones failing to appeal to consumers amid tougher competition with Chinese brands, LG's smartphone division has posted operating losses since the third quarter of 2015.

LG said the profitability of its smartphone business for the fourth quarter "was hampered by weak sales of the G5 smartphone and higher marketing investments."

During the fourth quarter, LG's smartphone business division reported an operating loss of 467 billion won on sales of 2.9 trillion won.

The smartphone business division's fourth-quarter sales slumped 21 percent on year.

Full-year operating loss at LG's smartphone division snowballed to 1.25 trillion won, compared to a loss of 119.6 billion won in 2015.

LG plans to unveil its new flagship smartphone, the G6, next month and the new model is "expected to help greatly improve" the company's market position this year, LG said in the statement.

LG's home appliances and home entertainment units both turned in strong performances.

Its vehicle components unit saw revenues jump by nearly two-thirds in the fourth quarter, but "R&D investments negatively affected profitability", LG said.