As speculated by many sources online and confirmed yesterday in LG’s quarterly results press release, the company is about to launch its new flagship smartphone in May. Event invites have been sent for six separate cities, with San Francisco, New York, and London going first on May 27th followed by Seoul, Singapore, and Istanbul on the next day. As shown in the invite, LG plans to keep things simple in order to attain greatness, with an emphasis on the G letter — a not-so-subtle hint at the upcoming G3 flagship. This simplicity is most likely related to the flatter and cleaner UI that LG will introduce with the G3, but it might also be a direction taken on a hardware level as well. From the various rumors and leaks, we know that the LG G3 is expected to be the first mainstream smartphone to feature a 5.5″ 2K QHD display. It will likely be powered by a Snapdragon 801 processor, include 32GB of internal storage, and might even have a microSD card slot, as opposed to its predecessor the G2. Like its main rival, the Samsung Galaxy S5, the G3 is said to be water and dust-resistant but whether that is the same IP rating as the S5 or a higher one remains to be seen. The camera resolution hasn’t been confirmed either, with some rumors pointing to a 13MP sensor and others to 16MP. What we can tell for sure is that it will likely have the same OIS+ technology introduced with the G Pro 2, relying on both hardware and software stabilization to produce sharp and clear images. Further leaks of the LG G3 had previously suggested a similar design paradigm to the G2, with LG’s signature buttons featured on the back of the phone, below the camera module. This placement frees up the device on the sides and allows LG to reduce its bezels as much as possible, keeping the physical size of the phone down while increasing the screen’s dimensions. A dual-LED is included on the back as well, with another mysterious sensor that might be a heart-rate monitor or an InfraRed blaster. LG’s decision to cut short its yearly release cycle and have the G3 announced in Q2 2014 instead of the third quarter is a result of the difficult competition it is facing from the year’s Q1 flagships — HTC’s One line, Xperia’s Z and Samsung’s S series — and the late and affordable Nexus series in Q4. By pushing up its release, LG expects to get to market with enough lead on the Nexus, and not a lot of delay compared to its competitors, while still giving itself an edge with next-gen specifications like the 2K display. Whether that strategy translates into better sales of the G3 has to be seen and proven. Personally, I am extremely excited to see the G3 coming soon. I have previously argued why I’m skipping all the other flagships in favor of the G3, and I can’t wait to see if it will live up to my expectations.
