(Telecompaper) LG Electronics intends to grow its smartphone shipments 52 percent this year to 40 million, helped by rising demand in emerging markets, Park Jong Seok, head of its mobile-communications division, said ahead of the Mobile World Congress. LG sold 26.3 million smartphones last year and 20.2 million in 2011. Smartphones accounted for more than 50 percent of LG's phone shipments for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2012. LG plans to growth further by expanding its product portfolio and launching devices in new markets, Bloomberg reported from a briefing by the company. "The developed markets are becoming ever more saturated," Park said. "In the smartphone area, we definitely felt the need to diversify our business portfolio." LG plans to focus on high-end smartphones in China because of competition in the low end of the market from local suppliers. In other parts of Asia, as well as in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, LG is more focused on low-end smartphones with its Optimus L products.