LG G7: Six things to know

Since the turn of the year, we’ve heard a number of things about the next LG flagship phone. It’s not a surprise that such details are emerging at this point in time. Over the years, LG Electronics has released a new G series device at the MWC event, a tech show that is just a few weeks away from now.

Expectations are high that LG will pick up from where it left off with the LG G6, a phone that is one of the best in design from LG. While this might be true to some extent, the company might also have a couple or more surprises in store. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

There will probably be no LG G7

For the purposes of this article, we’ll stick to using LG G7, but a few weeks ago, reports emerged suggesting that LG might be done with the G brand. Even before anything could be confirmed, the company listed the “Future LG G7” on its official UK website, prompting suggestions that the G brand could still be on the cards for the G6 successor. Of course, this listing has since been removed and, in fact, followed up with another yet intriguing discovery claiming that we could see a new LG Icon phone this year in place of the LG G7.

Samsung skipped the Galaxy Note 6 in order to not only unify its in-house naming strategy but also to match Apple’s. As a result, we had the Galaxy S7, Galaxy Note 7 and iPhone 7 in 2016; the Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note 8 and iPhone 8 in 2017; and this year, we’ll have the Galaxy S9, Galaxy Note 9 and possibly the iPhone 9 (unless Apple goes the iPhone 8S way). If anything, LG is looking for a way to keep up with these two without its devices looking outdated. In this case, the LG G7 would look older to the masses compared to Galaxy S9 or iPhone 9, which brings us to the next point.

Development from scratch

In line with the LG Icon claims, a report emerged from South Korea claiming that the development of the LG G7 has been scrapped. Apparently, the phone was already in development, but the company’s top management has ordered the team to start all over again.

According to the report, this order came after the smartphone team at LG was unable to build a strong selling point for the G7. LG has been struggling to match the likes of Samsung and even Huawei in the smartphone business and the company believes beginning everything from scratch is the only way to stay relevant in the business.

Interestingly, the Korean company has come out to refute these claims, adding that plans about the G6 successor, which the LG representative referred to as the G7, are still on schedule.

In a statement to Engadget, the LG representative said:

“Some stories have reported that LG’s mobile division is delaying the release of the G7 in order to reevaluate its performance and design. This is inaccurate. Preparations for the launch of the G6’s successor are on schedule.” In addition, “LG intends to focus on creating products that will result in meaningful results rather than launching new products on a schedule based solely on industry expectations and traditions. The release date for G7 is currently under consideration and will be announced when the time is right.”

A completely new phone

With rumors about the LG Icon growing stronger, it’s possible that we could see a completely new smartphone from LG. Even though we haven’t had any meaningful images leak out yet (apart from the render below), the rumored change of names is the first indicator that big things are looming. However, looking at the design of the LG G6, which happens to be one of the best not only from the company but also in the smartphone market in general, it would make sense if LG kept some of its design cues.

On the other hand, LG’s troubled performances in the smartphone market do suggest that it direly needs a new game plan. Unlike Samsung, not so many would be impacted in case of a drastic design change. The last time LG enjoyed some real success in the smartphone market is years ago when the LG G2 and G3 were still the go-to phones. If anything, this change could just be the company’s way of getting new customers on its sinking ship.

One of the mooted changes is the shift to an OLED panel, just like it happened with the LG V30. This should help bridge the gap between LG and Samsung thanks to the latter’s consistent use of AMOLED panels on its phones, including entry-level handsets. The G7 is also expected to ship with a dual selfie camera in addition to keeping the dual setup on the back, iris scanning, wireless charging, 6GB RAM and IP68 dust and water resistance.

It won’t be cheap

At launch, the LG G6 was listed for $700. What made the LG G2 and G3 such popular devices wasn’t just about their specs and features, but it had a lot to do with their price tags. If LG is to regain its relevance in the market, pricing its devices at the same level with the likes of Samsung and Apple won’t do it any favors.

Unfortunately, the company might still surprise you, just like HTC keeps surprising masses with each smartphone release, including the recent HTC U11 EYEs. Now that it has begun the hype by alerting fans that the phone will be the result of a well thought out process (after scraping off what it wants them to believe was a poor vision of what the G6 successor should be like), don’t be surprised if the LG G7 – or whatever name it will be called – comes at the same price as the G6 or even higher.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 on the cards

LG has done a pretty poor job trying to catch up with Samsung in the smartphone industry. The two OEMs have always unveiled new flagship phones in H1 and H2 of every year and in fact, LG did everything possible to beat Samsung to the release of the Galaxy S8 by unveiling the G6 at the MWC 2017, a month ahead of its competitor. As it turned out, this was a terrible idea because LG ended up giving the masses a half-baked 2017 flagship powered by 2016 flagship specs.

The phone, despite rocking one of the best designs, came with an older Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset. However, if reports surfacing from Korea are anything to go by, the company seems to have learned its mistake and as such, the LG G7 will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, just like the rest of the 2018 flagship phones.

Prior to this, the listing on the LG UK website pointed towards support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0 technology. Although not the latest, it’s definitely better than Quick Charge 3.0 used on the LG G6 and LG V30.

MWC 2018 launch very unlikely

Given LG’s love for the MWC tech show, we surely thought back in the day that the company would unveil the G6’s successor at the event, but it looks highly unlikely now. Even though LG has come out to refute the said development from scratch orders, the MWC 2018 seems too soon for a completely thought-out device from LG.

In the statement to Engadget, the company said that the launch date of the LG G7 is still under consideration, which could mean anything. However, given that Samsung has already started sending out press invites for the launch of the Galaxy S9 and S9+, LG would also be doing the same – or at least teasing – if it were to launch the G6 successor at the upcoming biggest mobile event.

In addition, the number of LG G7 leaks and rumors has significantly been lower compared to the same stage ahead of the G6 launch. If anything, this could also be another pointer that the G6 successor won’t be announced until somewhere in Q2 2018.

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