When I last wrote about LG V30, it seemed a distant thing. However, now it seems that it’s not as distant as we thought. If Korean media is true, then this device is coming as early as August this year. The Investor has written citing a report from Aju Business Daily that launch schedule for both LG V30 and G7 has been accelerated, and they may be launched in the coming months of August and January respectively.
At first some elements of this information report seem misguided, and there’s a good reason to think so. Korean media has a habit of releasing too many arrows and expect some of them to hit the target when it comes to reporting about chaebols (the Korean term for conglomerate). However, this also doesn’t mean that they’re almost always off the mark. Many times they reveal accurate information before anyone else, and besides that there’s also some sensibility in the August and January launch of both devices. Let’s understand how:
LG V30
Take the case of V30 for example. The rumored dual-screen smartphone with a slide-out display is coming in August according to The Investor. This seems a misguided assumption because in September there’s IFA – one of the largest consumer electronics shows in the world. Why would LG want to skip the kind of publicity and global coverage that such a massive show can bring? Of course, Samsung does that, but there’s no match in Samsung and LG – the market value of Samsung Electronics is more than combined value of LG electronics, SK Group and Hyundai Motors, the remaining 3 major chaebols in South Korea. Samsung can easily afford to throw a lot more money and resources on publicity than LG.
However, this time IFA’s press days (the period during which most press conferences related to the show are held) are to be held on last two days of August. If LG decides to announce V30 at one of those days, not only the launch will fall in August but also it won’t miss out on any kind of media exposure. The possibility also exists because previous devices of V series have also not been announced at IFA – but in that case, they were also not released in Europe. This year’s case may be different.
LG G7
Again, there seems some misguided information here as well. The report says that G7 may be released in January 2018, but the same report also says that LG has started working on it from last month only. Either of these statements is very likely to be wrong, because it takes more than 6 months to build a new flagship smartphone from scratch. And while a January launch will put the announcement inline with CES, that show revolves more around TVs and refrigerators than mobile devices. A Mobile World Congress release in February seems more sensible from publicity perspective.
But once again there’s also another side of story as well. Historical patterns of G series product launches show that a January launch may be possible:
- G2 was launched in September 2013
- G3 came in May 2014
- G4 in April 2015
- G5 in mid-April 2016
- G6 in March of this year.
And now it’s time for G7. If LG wants to capitalize on a pre-Galaxy S9 launch then it may decide to go a step ahead in terms of launch as well and release the device in January. It’s also worth recalling that last year LG failed to capitalize on an opportunity when it couldn’t get its G6 smartphones out fast enough to capture the market before launch of Samsung Galaxy S8. The company would certainly not want to see that happening again, and for that reason it may consider accelerating the launch schedule to January. But again, if device takes longer in coming to market, this accelerated launch schedule will be of little help.
Anyways, we’ll know very soon how accurate this report is. August is not too far and if V30 is released at that time, the possibility of G7 coming in January will also increase. Otherwise we’ll come to know something more concrete from future leaks.
LG G7 is expected to come with upcoming Snapdragon 845 processor, while nothing is known about V30 except for its rumored slide out dual-screen design. Both devices are expected to come with OLED displays.
