After a relatively poor 2017 with both its flagship smartphones, the LG G6 and V30, failing, the Korean company decided to take a slightly different approach this year. LG decided against launching the G7 at MWC 2018 this year and a report even claimed that the company’s CEO had ordered the team to rework the handset.
Now, a new report claims that LG will be unveiling the G7 in Seoul at the end of April, with the handset going on sale towards mid-May. Additionally, the report states that the G7 will feature a dedicated AI button. LG announced its AI, ThinQ, at the beginning of this year at CES 2018. Since then, we have seen the company integrate ThinQ in its various products including TVs and speakers. It also announced a special edition of the V30 with ThinQ integration to highlight what its AI was capable of. Despite the push from LG though, ThinQ has not received positive reviews so it remains to be seen how the Korean company will improve it further with the G7.
LG also plans on using a f/1.5 aperture lens for the rear camera of the G7. Samsung used a similar lens on the Galaxy S9 so LG is only following its Korean brother’s lead here. The wider aperture should allow the G7 to offer better low-light performance, though LG will have to make use of multi-frame noise reduction like Samsung and Google to ensure that the G7’s camera performance is right up there with the very best. Other tidbits about the G7 from the report include the use of an MLCD+ display, a Snapdragon 845 chipset, 6GB RAM, and 64/128GB of storage. The use of an MLCD+ panel is an interesting decision from LG. This LCD panel features an extra white pixel that allows it to reach higher brightness levels while consuming about 35 percent less power than regular LCD panels.
Our Take
Despite the vast resources that Samsung has, the company’s Bixby assistant has failed to make a mark with consumers. That, however, has not stopped Samsung from including a dedicated Bixby button on its flagship smartphones. LG seems to be following Samsung’s lead here, though one hopes that LG learns from Samsung’s mistakes and will include an option to not only turn off this dedicated AI button but also allow users to customize it to launch other apps.
