LG is ready to go head-to-head with some of its biggest rivals in mobile, including Samsung and HTC. Later this month at Mobile World Congress, LG is slated to unveil its next generation flagship smartphone, the LG G5.
The LG G5 is a direct successor to 2015’s LG G4, a popular phone that’s coveted thanks to its sleek leather back, gorgeous display, strong camera performance and expandability. This year, we can expect more innovative features from LG. After all, the G5 is expected to have some stiff competition in the high-end phone space, including the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S7 and HTC One M10.
With a rumored metal body and a focus on photography and expandability, the LG G5 won’t be cheap, but it should fall in line to retail for $600 contract-free. Here are five rumors about the LG G5 that we are particularly excited about:
1. All-metal design
According to serial leakster Evan Bass, the LG G5 will ditch the plastic body of the G5 for an all-metal finish. This will make the G5 a strong contender against Apple’s aluminum-clad iPhone 6s and HTC’s all-metal HTC One designs.
The metal build will give the phone a more premium feel, and it’s something that LG has toyed with on the V10, a premium phone with a removable plastic rear cover and steel side rails. The LG G5 is expected to have a flat back, straight sides and curved corners, a nod to the design of the iPhone 6s and the HTC One A9.
Unlike these rivals, the G5 will come with a removable 2,800 mAh battery. This is a bit smaller than a few other flagship smartphones from 2015, the good news is that if your battery dies, you can just swap it for a freshly charged spare rather than having to search for a power outlet.
2. Smaller screen
LG may be bucking the bigger is better trend with G5 by reducing the screen size of the G5. The G5 is rumored to come with a 5.3-inch screen, down from a 5.5-inch display on its predecessor.
The reason? LG may want to further differentiate the G series from the V series, similar to what rival Samsung does with the mainstream Galaxy S and larger Galaxy Note series. This way, the smaller 5.3-inch G5 won’t compete directly against the 5.7-inch V10.
Rumors suggest that the V10’s smaller 1440 × 2560-pixel display will also get added to the G5, giving the handset a similar dual display setup, but it’s unclear if this information is accurate. One of the purpose of the dual display on the V10 is that the smaller screen gives users access to the date, time and notifications, even when the main display is off.
However, there may no longer be a need for a second screen given that LG had announced on its Facebook page that the G5 will come with an Always On screen, similar to what Motorola has done on the Moto X Pure Edition. With this always on screen, users will always have access to the time and notifications on the main screen.
Recently, smartphone manufacturers like Nokia (now Microsoft Mobile) and Motorola have relied on AMOLED screen tech to power their always on displays. AMOLED conserves power as the entire display doesn’t need to be powered on, but in the past, Nokia and Palm have both used LCD for their always on screens. It’s unclear if the G5 will ditch the 2560 × 1440-pixel IPS LCD screen on the G4 for the same resolution AMOLED panel.
3. A Photo-Finish
Whereas the LG V10 introduced a dual camera setup to the front of the device for selfies, the G5 may use a similar setup, but with the main rear-facing camera. This means you’ll get two 16-megapixel cameras on the rear.
The dual-lens setup allows the V10 to capture a closer photo with one camera and a wider field of view with the second camera. The advantage of the wider angle lens is that you can capture more of your scene in your picture. To capture portraits, you may want to use the regular lens, which comes with less distortion than a wide angle lens.
To combat lens distortion with a wide-angle lens, PhoneArena suggests that the G5 may capture an image with both lenses simultaneously and use software algorithms to help create a detailed photo.
Other camera elements include two LED flash bulbs, LG’s infrared sensor for laser fast autofocus and an RGB sensor to aid with autofocus and scene recognition, according to a report on VentureBeat.
For selfie-takers, the G5 will ship with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera for detailed shots of your mug. However, if you need a little assistance, LG’s Beauty Mode can help soften out skin tones, harsh lines and wrinkles for your self-captured closeup. Other sources suggest that LG will use a Sony-made 20-megapixel camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel front-facing shooter.
4. Security, Power and Expandability
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Powering the G5 will be Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 chipset along with 3GB RAM and significantly better graphics performance. Qualcomm’s marketing claims suggest that the 820 chip delivers up to twice the processing performance and 40% better graphics performance than the Snapdragon 810 released last year. The Snapdragon 820 should be a significant upgrade to the Snapdragon 808 processor on last year’s G4.
New to the G5, and a carryover from the V10 released late last year, is the inclusion of a fingerprint reader. The fingerprint reader is integrated into the power button, which sits at the rear of the device, a position that LG argues is more natural to reach when you’re holding the phone. However, when the phone is set on a desk, the rear placement makes it impossible to use the fingerprint reader. To combat the limitation of this design, LG is rumored to include some sort of iris scanner, similar to what Microsoft used on the Lumia 950 smartphone.
What’s new is that LG moved the volume rocker, which flanked the power button on the rear of the G4, to a more standard position to the side of the phone on the G5. It’s unclear what spurred the change, but the rear of G5 is getting busy with a dual camera array, increased number of sensors, LED camera flashes, and a fingerprint scanner.
The G5 is expected to ship with 32 GB of on-board storage. It’s unclear if LG intends on equipping the G5 with a microSD card reader to add extra storage, but the phone may come with its own expansion system.
Dubbed the Magic Slot, the bottom-placed slot is believed to host expansion cartridges, like better cameras or serve as the port to connect virtual reality glasses. It’s unclear what LG intends for the Magic Slot, but it’s an interesting idea that pays homage to the old PDA days with the Compaq iPaq sleds or the Handspring, later acquired by Palm, Springboard slot.
The LG G5 will likely launch with Android Marshmallow and come with LG’s custom skin.
5. Accessories
LG will augment its flagship line with some in-house designed accessories. One accessory that we know of is the LG Quick Cover, which uses a metallic mesh design with a clear plastic window cover. Users will be able to interact with the phone, performing basic functions like answering a call, without opening the smart cover.
It’s unclear if LG will be offering other cases to complement the G5’s design.