LG pulled out all the stops for the G6, one of 2017’s best smartphones. Now rumors are surfacing about its successor, the LG G7.
Call it the LG G7, call it “Judy” as rumors suggest, heck call it Ishmael. LG’s next phone is coming — but what will it look like?
LG pulled out all the stops to deliver one of 2017’s best smartphones in the G6. With its breakthrough design, massive display for its size, excellent wide-angle camera, and dependable performance, it was a return to form for the company that had something of a misstep with 2016’s G5. Almost as soon as the LG G6 hit the market in March 2017, rumors began to swirl about the company’s next top-of-the-line handset. Here’s everything we think we know about the LG G7 — or whatever the phone ends up being called.
Despite reports that the LG G7 would not make an appearance at MWC 2018, it seems that some people did manage to sneak a look at what is being assumed is the LG G7. The device seen by Ynet sports a weirdly large 19.5:9 resolution, and — unfortunately for notch-haters — features a notch at the top of the screen. Still, the 6-inch OLED seems set to wow regardless of design controversies, with Ynet reporting that LG has managed an incredibly high pixels-per-inch measurement of 900 — making this an exceptionally sharp display.
The design has two vertically aligned cameras on the rear, with a fingerprint sensor just below it. If this was the design for the LG G7 then it may explain why LG pulled the phone, citing a redesign — it looks very similar to the iPhone X. We’re not the only people to think that, as Evan Blass of VentureBeat postulated that this could well be the previously pulled LG G7 design.
However, that begs the question of why LG would bother to bring a failed design to a trade show, even if it was to only show to a select few. The veracity of these claims also must wait to be seen, as it’s not at all clear how reliable these claims are.
The report from VentureBeat has shed some light on what we should expect from the phone under the hood. The phone will reportedly boast a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, along with dual rear-facing camera, water resistance, and stereo speakers.
That corroborates previous reports. LG worked with Qualcomm on the chipmaker’s current Snapdragon 845 processor, industry sources told South Korea’s Aju Business Daily. According to the report, the two companies started working together in May 2017.
While LG decided to settle for the outdated 821 processor in the G6 to accelerate the process of bringing its product to market, competing devices, like the Samsung Galaxy S8, launched sporting the more powerful 835. In working alongside Qualcomm now, the phone maker looks to avoid a similar situation when it launches the G7. According to Aju Business Daily, LG is planning on fitting the G7 with an 845, which will also be found inside the Galaxy S9. The Snapdragon 845 processor will provide a “25 percent performance uplift” over last year’s Snapdragon 835. The chip features an X20 LTE modem, which will offer provide gigabit connectivity on supported networks.
The most recent leaks corroborate the idea that LG will be looking to use the latest of Qualcomm’s processors, with leaked images of a prospective LG G7 coming with reports of the Snapdragon 845,4GB of RAM, and a 64GB hard drive, powered by a 3,000mAh battery. An LG G7 Plus would have 6GB of RAM and a large 128GB hard drive instead. While the reliability of the source is definitely up for argument, these are the sort of specs we’d expect to see in a 2018 flagship, and aren’t a bad expectation at this stage.
Meanwhile, a report from The Investor earlier in May claimed that the G7 will receive an OLED display, like Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and the iPhone X. though fresh reports now indicate that may not be true. Instead, the company may adopt a new type of display, called an MLCD+. This display is reportedly capable of a high brightness while saving on battery life. The new industry trend has shifted toward OLED technology, which offers improved contrast, power efficiency, and thinner screens compared to LCD. Moving to an OLED panel would also make the G7 compatible with Google’s Daydream VR — a feature the G6 missed out on. We’ll have to see if using an MLCD+ display affects the new phone’s Daydream-readiness.
There’s little to report on at this stage, save for the rumors of a device with dual 16-megapixel cameras and a front-facing wide-angle 8MP selfie camera. These are impressive specs for a camera phone, but there’s little to back up these particular rumors at this date — especially if this is the model of the G7 that was cancelled in favor of the “Judy” update.
While there’s a little mystery regarding the launch of most smartphones, LG has pushed the suspense to the next level. While we originally had our hopes set on an early announcement at CES in January, that didn’t happen. We’re also not planning to see the G7 at Mobile World Congress in February either. Cy Kim, managing director of LG Electronics South Africa, told journalists in January that the launch would be “a little late.”
Now, a new report from VentureBeat suggests the phone, which is code-named “Judy,” will finally end up being launched in June. According to the report, the phone won’t be called the G7, but rather will kick-start a new lineup of flagship phones from LG.
This corroborates a previous report from The Investor which noted that LG Electronics vice chairman and CEO Jo Seong-jin ordered that the LG G7 be shelved and a new flagship be started from scratch. A company spokesperson told Engadget the news was “inaccurate,” and that the release date “is currently under consideration and will be announced when the time is right.”
LG’s top brass may be wary of launching the G7 so close to the Samsung Galaxy S9, which is set to be unveiled at MWC on February 25. This delay could see the phone pushed back to allow LG to come up with a unique selling point that the G7 is apparently lacking.
While we’ve listed the phone as the “LG G7,” earlier rumors from The Investor said that’s unlikely to be the name of the successor to the LG G6. LG was reportedly looking into retiring the “G” part of the name in favor of a double-digit name that would bring the LG phone parallel with the higher numbers on the iPhone X and upcoming Galaxy S9. It’s clear LG is worried the name “G7” might be perceived as less powerful than a competing phone with a higher number.
