LG has a lot at stake with the G6. What do they need to do to succeed?
It's safe to say that LG didn't take the world by storm with the G5 in 2016. The phone had a lot of things going for it, but the Korean company, whose mobile division has been in Samsung's shadow for the past half decade, emphasized its modular ambitions a bit too much without supporting it with actual accessories worth buying.
Judging by the nearly-$400 million loss in Q3, mainly caused by an underperforming mobile division, LG's shareholders and management were likely as unhappy as its loyal consumers. The company's most recent high-end phone, the oversized LG V20, is far less mainstream than the G5, but gets a lot more right, too. Unfortunately, the V20 is also available in only a handful of markets, and nowhere outside North America, leading to the impression for many that LG only released one phone this year, and a not very good one. (Samsung has the same problem, but at least the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are fundamentally great products.)
Now that we're approaching MWC 2017, where the G6 is going to be revealed let's look ahead to LG's next flagship, tentatively titled the G6. We're fairly certain about a few things at this point, so let's discuss them one by one.
Update, January 27: According to a report from CNET, the LG G6 will not only be waterprooof, but it will be the first phone outside of Google's own Pixels to support Google Assistant.
A big, weird display
There are a couple of things LG has made pretty clear about the upcoming G6, and one is its display. The company dropped a big hint by announcing a brand new 5.7-inch ultra-wide display with a resolution of 2880x1440 — that's an 18:9 aspect ratio, slightly taller, or wider, than the average smartphone, which typically stick to a cinematic 16:9.
LG thinks it can get away with this decision because it is cutting down on bezel around the device. In a teaser released on YouTube, the company promises that despite the larger display its upcoming flagship will still be usable with one hand, which will be quite a feat for a 5.7-inch phone.
Forget about modularity and focus on good looks
This one is a given. LG found no success with the G5's so-called Friends, especially those that relied on attaching itself to the removable battery.
Motorola's Moto Mods proved itself to be a much more elegant solution, and as we're learned Lenovo is committed to at least four Mods per quarter, a strategy that LG all but abandoned right after the G5's release. It's almost like the company's heart wasn't really in it (if corporations had hearts).
LG said in a statement that instead of modularity it was aiming for "aesthetics and usability" with the G6, something that, arguably, the G5 lacked.
Based on a recent leak, the G6 will resemble the G5, but a much sleeker (and taller) version, with an all-metal design that looks and feels a lot nicer in the hand. It will also have a considerably better screen-to-bezel ratio — one of the highest in the industry.
No removable battery
I know, this one will be controversial for loyal fans of The Removable Battery, but LG has good reason for shunning the removable battery with the G6: it looks bad. If the company is emphasizing "aesthetics and usability," it needs to stick a larger, non-removable battery in the phone's chassis.
According to recent rumors, the G6 will be waterproof, which would require a sealed-in battery, and may support wireless charging, bringing it more in line with what we expect from a flagship — and what saw from Samsung in 2016.
Double down on dual cameras
The LG G5, for all of its faults, has an unimpeachable camera setup, with an excellent wide shooter and a fun ultrawide lens that takes amazing landscape photos. Dual-camera setups are becoming increasingly common in the industry, but LG's take is still relatively unique. There are many reasons why it would double down on this trend, improving the sensors and glass on both cameras and finding ways in software to make them work better together. Less gimmick, more substantive improvement.
In LG's strange teaser / wish list video, the company asserts that people want a phone with a camera that can "capture it all at once," which, to me, implies that the phone will be able, unlike the G5, to take photos with the standard and wide sensors at the same time. Might be a good gimmick if it's well-implemented.
Waterproofing
From that same teaser, it's clear the LG intends to make the G6 waterproof, which is increasingly becoming table stakes in the phone industry. As mentioned above, waterproofing likely necessitated a sealed battery, but it's also important to more people to make a phone hardy to the elements over the ability to swap out a battery every once in a while.
A CNET report has confirmed the presence of waterproofing, saying that the company decided to do away with the removable battery in exchange for protecting the chassis against water ingress.
Speed & Reliability
Basically, don't be a Galaxy Note 7. LG is teasing the G6's reliability, as is every company that isn't Samsung (though Samsung itself will also start blaring that horn as the Galaxy S8 comes closer to its announcement). At its core, the G6 will win plaudits if it runs cool and doesn't explode.
Unfortunately, it looks like the LG G6 won't be running Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 835 chip as we thought; Samsung has reportedly obtained the entire first run of the new flagship SoC from Qualcomm. That means then G6 will launch with the same Snapdragon 821 we current find inside the Pixel and OnePlus 3T — still a great chip, but not the latest and greatest.
The first for Google Assistant
Here's an interesting one. From the same CNET report, the LG G6 will have Google Assistant built in, the same currently-exclusive differentiator for the Google Pixel.
LG and Google have always had a close relationship, with the company building three Nexus devices and rumored to be building two new "Nexus" watches running Android Wear 2.0, but the fact that the G6 will break the Pixel's hold on the Assistant will be amazing if it's true.
What do you think?
The LG G6 is only a few weeks away from its debut, and the company has a lot at stake. What do you think it needs to do to eke a win from a fickle and saturated Android market? Let us know in the comments!
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