Friday, March 29, 2024

LG’s next big phone will debut in Barcelona on February 26

Share

Why it matters to you

Success is vital for LG’s next flagship phone — G6 — after the G5’s modular gamble didn’t pay off.

LG bet it all on mods with the G5, but its “Friends” ecosystem hasn’t been a winner, and the company has not released additional modules to help build the range and entice usage. Rumors that the modular system will be dropped are already spreading. As a result, LG will really have to blow the competition out of the water with its next flagship phone, which we expect will be called the G6.

Here’s everything we think we know about the LG G6.

Water resistance over modules and a removable battery?

LG’s Friends range of modules for the G5 didn’t catch on, despite being an unusual feature with plenty of potential. This lack of success may mean LG will drop the feature for the G6, and may add water resistance in its place. The latest rumors about the phone come from a CNET report, which cites a person familiar with the phone. According to the report, the LG G6 will indeed drop the removable battery in favor of water resistance — a controversial move, to be sure.

Not only that, but companies that supply waterproof adhesives are apparently bidding for the job of keeping the wet stuff out of the G6, according to ET News. Additionally, LG’s new teaser video which may refer to the G6 talks about water resistance as an often requested feature.

LG G5 FriendsSealing up the phone means not having removable sections for new modules or a replacement battery, another aspect that made the G5 standout from the competition. Previously, ET News reported that LG is not building modular components for the G6, and did not add them to the LG V20. The Japanese version of the V20, named the Isai Beat locally, included water resistance, but not the removable battery — two features that can’t work together.

In December, a tweet from David Ruddock of Android Police notes the G6 will not, in fact, have a removable battery. It will, however, feature an all-glass design, and will keep its headphone jack (unlike the iPhone and rumored Samsung S8).

Source: LG G6 will not have a removable battery, LG will move to an all-glass design language similar to Samsung. Headphone jack is a go.

— David Ruddock (@RDR0b11) December 7, 2016

It may not be the end for LG Friends, and LG has said it is not abandoning the modular ecosystem, according to CNET. Perhaps LG will return with a stronger range for the G7, or a spinoff range only for modules. It’s speculation for now, but should LG drop modules for the next major releases, it will be a blow to LG consumers that own the G5 as it would mean they spent money on supplementary products that aren’t reusable with future devices.

Design and display

The LG G6’s aesthetics are no longer a mystery. LG Display, the division in charge of mass-producing smartphone panels, TVs, and screens of every shape in-between, provided an image of the upcoming smartphone’s topmost bezel and sides to The Verge.

LG has confirmed that the G6 will have a 5.7-inch Quad HD+ display with a resolution of 2,880 x 1,440 pixels, but what’s unique is the 18:9 aspect ratio — meaning the device is likely more elongated than typical devices with that aspect ratio. And the company says the screen is impressively less than 1mm thick.

More: LG V20 review

One of 2017’s smartphone trends will be the gradual elimination of the bezel, and LG says it has reduced the bezel on the top of the G6 by 20 percent, as well as 10 percent on the sides. The overall screen-to-bezel ratio is said to be greater than 90 percent, with the bottom bezel measuring slightly taller than the top. The display, which is likely OLED, will be 10 percent more visible in daylight and will use up 30 percent less battery life.

A purported render of the G6, courtesy of @OnLeaks, shows a 360-degree video of what the phone will end up looking like. The render falls in line with other leaks we’ve seen, and has a similar design to the G5, although slightly more refined. It also appears as though LG will do away with modularity in the G6, and it looks like the 3.5mm headphone jack will stick around in LG’s flagship, at least for now. The leaks also show what appear to be glossy finishes, following the new design trend set by Apple with the jet black version of the iPhone 7.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_H3s-zP1KI?feature=oembed&w=100&h=100]

Android Authority has also managed to get its hands on what appears to be very early renders, showing that the phone will have an almost identical design to its predecessor, the LG G5. For example, it will have the same dual-camera module placement, the same center-mounted fingerprint sensor, and the same button placement, on the right of the device. There will be a few differences, however — the G6 is expected to slim down a little to 72.43mm, which is slightly thinner than the G5’s 73.9mm, although barely enough to notice a difference.

Android Authority has updated its post to say that the renders are an extremely early design, so it’s possible (and even likely) that the final design will change before the release of the G6.

An older processor

The LG G6 might not feature a top-of-the-line processor. According to Forbes, Samsung’s getting first dibs on the Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 835, leaving competitors like LG with older chips. The G6 is said to feature the Snapdragon 821, the same processor as HTC’s U Ultra.

“The Snapdragon 835 won’t be available in large quantities until after the Galaxy S8 launches,” the Forbes source said.

It isn’t the first time LG’s opted to use an older processor in a flagship phone. Two years ago, it sourced the Snapdragon 808 instead of the 810 because of availability concerns. LG executives told Forbes that the company preferred, “proven [chip] that they can test thoroughly than the latest [and] fastest” — a factor that likely played a part in the decision.

Digital assistant(s)

Previous reports indicated that the LG G6 would include both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, however recent rumors suggest that instead the phone will only offer Google Assistant. The new report comes from CNET, which says that LG was planning on including Alexa in the phone, but shelved the plan because it didn’t feel ready to include the assistant just yet — and that we should expect the assistant to appear in LG phones later this year.

So far, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL are the only phones with Google Assistant, Google’s new digital assistant. According to a report from Business Korea, however, the LG G6 could have it too — making the G6 the first non-Google-branded phone to get the new assistant.

If LG did decide to include Alexa, it would be only the second smartphone, behind the Huawei Mate 9, to feature the assistant. LG has integrated Alexa into some of its other products, such as the InstaView refrigerator, so a continued partnership would make sense.

Release date

Looking forward to a new smartphone from LG? Good, because prepare to get excited. The company will hold a special event on February 26 in Barcelona, Spain, where it’s likely to show the G6 smartphone. The gathering takes place the day before Mobile World Congress opens its doors in the city. The invitation includes the tagline, “See more, play more,” which continues on from the “play more” theme introduced with the G5, and may play on the possible larger, higher resolution screen feature on the new phone.

It’s also spreading the word through LG social media accounts. On Twitter, LG posted a shorter version of the teaser video released earlier in January, where it asks members of the public to describe their ideal phone. The dream device is apparently water resistant, has a big screen, can be used with one hand, and has a great camera. LG closes the video telling us to imagine our wishes came true, then flashed a “February, 2017” date up on the screen.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-N5cZBcl0?feature=oembed&w=100&h=100]

The tweet, posted on January 18, says “Everything you want is on its way,” which indicates the above wishlist of features will be part of the G6.

The LG G series has traditionally been released at Mobile World Congress, so it’s not a surprise the G6 will also arrive at the show. What could change, however, is the availability date after the device is launched. The G5 was first unveiled at MWC in February 2016, but it wasn’t until April that consumers could actually buy it. According to the South Korea-based ETNews the G6 could be made available a full month earlier than its predecessor.

Why the change in availability? Well, 2016 wasn’t exactly LG’s best year. The G5 largely failed to capture the imaginations of consumers, and while the LG V20 was a great device, it also didn’t sell like LG might have hoped. In the new year, LG wants to shake things up a little — which means beating out the competition by releasing flagships a little early.

Iris scanner

Following reports of an LG Pay mobile payments system, LG may introduce heightened security on the G6, in the form of an iris scanner. LG Innotek, a division of LG that produces components and other technology, has shown a traditional double-camera iris scanner, and a new single module with an iris scanner and a selfie camera inside, at a recent technology show.

This has prompted rumors LG may take one of the modules and integrate it into the G6, although LG Innotek has issued a statement saying no deal exists. The company supplies components to many manufacturers.

MST payments

If there’s one feature Samsung has a leg up on compared to Google, LG, Apple, and other smartphone competitors, it’s Samsung Pay. Where other mobile payment solutions use NFC, or near field communication, to offer a tap-and-pay experience, Samsung uses Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST). This means it replicates a card swipe — so it works wherever you can use your credit card.

That’s far better than looking for NFC terminals. LG is now rumored to be adding MST technology into the G6 to offer a similar payment service to rival Samsung, according to ET News. The company was supposed to launch LG Pay at the start of the year, but the plans were scrapped. We may see it for the first time on the G6.

More: LG G5 review

We’ll continue to update this post as we learn more information about the rumored device.

Article originally published on 10-28-2016. Updated on 01-26-2017 by Christian de Looper: Added confirmation from CNET that LG would do away with removable battery in favor of water resistance.

Read more

More News