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LG planning to launch a device on a tier higher than the LG G4

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We expected the LG G4 to be the cream of LG’s crop whenever they decide to reveal it later this year, but new reports suggest that won’t be the case this time around. Korean Press has heard directly from LG executives that the company is planning to launch a smartphone in the second half of this year that’s to be regarded more high-end than their forthcoming flagship.

“We are planning to release a product that stands above the G series,” said Cho Jun-ho, who heads LG’s mobile business in a surprise move at the Mobile World Congress that runs in Barcelona, Spain, through Thursday. “It will be launched during the second half of this year.”

That’s all the info we get for now, but it’s not unusual for a company to release a specialized device with more bells and whistles than what is considered their high-end offering.

Samsung has done the same with the Samsung Galaxy Note line up to this point, with that particular phone usually being a driving force for new features, ideas and better performance that will eventually find their way into the next year’s iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S. We saw this most recently with the Note line getting an Edge variant before Samsung introduced the display innovation inside the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

We’re not sure what sort of cool stuff LG will look to try with this supposed smartphone, but considering we already expect the LG G4 to blow us away then there’s reason to get excited for its eventual reveal. In the meantime, we’re just hoping LG won’t take long to announce their next major smartphone.

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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53 Comments

  1. Oh yeaaa… a device that goes toe to toe with the Note series. I’m definitely down for that. Since HTC isn’t rising to the occasion any time soon.

    1. Right!? That Max series ain’t cuttin’ it.

      1. Nope sure aint, but it had the potential to… I was so pissed they didn’t release a Max version last year. And I was hoping for a simultaneous launch of a Max with this years M9

        1. Precisely!! I was expecting a Max M8. I feel it’s safe to believe HTC knew the M7 Max just wasn’t right. I hope they do their M9 Max version right. I don’t have any intentions on getting the M9, so I can now sit my fanboism aside and wait and see what later this year gives us.

      2. Nope Max isn’t even close yo!

  2. Go on…

  3. as long as its not priced higher than these ridiculously high priced Sam-ple phones ;) see what I did there? take my money LG, I miss you!

    1. I like what you did there :)

    2. Nice… But “Sapple” would fit better ;)

  4. Good Luck trying to match the Note Series lol. If they can surpass it I’d imagine it would be quiteeeeeee Expensive. Did I forget to mention you’ll probably be competing with a Note 5 Edge???

    1. the Note 4 HAS to be what everyone is gunning for this year, right? that phone is awesome. given the prices Samsung has decided to go with, I think they are following your theory and going the expensive route. I cant imagine the Note 5 being cheap at all….it just does not make sense anymore.

      1. Its really going to be a tough battle for LG if you ask me. What people fail to realize is that the Note line is more than just a big screened phone. It has features that are useful, and not to mention it has an S-Pen. And with the focus that Samsung is putting into design I imagine its going to be quite sexy as well ;)

        1. And why do you think LG can’t provide similar features? They’re a huge electronics conglomerate that competes with Samsung in pretty much every space, from phones to appliances.

        2. I was in no way doggin it. It really is one of my favorite (and un-owned) phones I have played with. I love my Nexus 6 and how big it is but the Note 4 just performed better and I loved the camera. Never got used to the S-Pen to be honest but my friend said he uses it all the time. I am just worried that Samsung is going SUPER-highend and will end up charging 8-900 for the next Note 5. Which would put it out of my budget, not because I cant afford it but because I dont WANT to pay that much for a phone. haha

  5. Is it a polite way to say “until we figure out how to fix the 820 overheating issue”?

    1. You just said it. Being blunt is the most polite way.

  6. Lovely!! Let’s see what they can do, because right now all I can imagine is a phone with the latest hardware.

  7. 16 Core Holographic Chip running in Negative space while using your brain as the screen and your thoughts as the touch pad with spinal fluid security verification.

    1. And you squeeze your nuts to power on/off

      1. You killed it.

  8. I think the G3 trumped Samsungs flagship last year, the S5. I am guessing the G4 will trump Sammys S6, and whatever this tease is will trump the note 5. Would wager the Note 5 will come with edge variant just like S6 edge. LG is going to take as king in the smartphone business just as their display technology is allowing them to take over as leader in the TV market. Never thought that would happen I used to think of LG as cheap, but they are making big strides. Consumers win with this kind of competition :D

    1. I just bought an LG washer and dryer. I wasn’t trying to, they were just the nicest ones for the price. I have the G3 too.

    2. I am a G3 owner, but not sure I agree with you. The S5 was bland IMHO, and the G3 whipped it’s butt in nearly every area….. the S6 on the other hand is an entirely different beast.
      Having said that, I like nice surprises…. so let’s wait and see what LG brings to the table. But at this stage the only things stopping me buying an S6 would be rubbish battery life, or perhaps HTC miraculously turning the M9 camera into a beast (which sadly I doubt).

  9. “during the second half of this year.” – that counts me out.

    1. Aren’t you patient enough to wait six months?

      1. No…

    2. ah come on! patience!

  10. Hopefully it’s finally a proper competitor for the Note line, hopefully.

  11. I think that LG seen the S6 and edge and knew that they had to do something, before Sammy steals the show.

  12. I hope all the manufacturers keep stepping their games up. No matter what, they won’t please everybody, but the competition benefits us the most because as consumers, we’ll have plenty of options for the devices that suit our own needs the best. I’m definitely intrigued to see what will be “drastically” different with the G4. I loved the G3 enough to buy it (even though I gave it to a relative), but still love my Note 3 even. I’ve been so accustomed to using my S-pen that anything that doesn’t have a Wacom digitizer has become a less attractive choice for me. We’ll see, as rumors/leaks start to hit the internet.

  13. It’s probably the dual edge phone they demoed at 2015 CES.
    http://www.cnet.com/news/lg-display-prototype-smartphone-curved-edges/

    1. its really cool but i think they would be late to the party essentially. I think they really need to do something no one else is doing….what? I have no idea but i’m excited. even if it ends up being the above!

  14. This is rely killing me because I’m kit overly impressed with the m9 or s6. I’m really hoping LG does a great job with the g4 like with the g3 so I can go with that, but it’s going to kill me knowing that LG has something even better up their sleeve right around the corner. I just don’t think I want to wait that long.

    1. They’re announcing the G4 in April.. won’t be that long as the S6 and M9 will take around a month to release

    2. I feel the same way but I’m going to wait for the second half of the year to see what it is before pulling the trigger on the G4.

      1. Yea I’m just not interested in a phablet if that’s what it actually is, so deciding if it’s worth waiting and then it’s just a bigger phone when I’m already overdue for an update is the crux here.

        1. I think you can count on that because it is very atypical for a successor to be smaller. That can only be explained if they are going to release something more bigger in size which, although not comfirmed officially, we can start to assume after the words of this exec.

  15. Well they used to have the G pro line, so could this be the G pro 3!?

  16. Its going to be tough to outdo the “G” series! My G3 is more than enough.

    1. miss it so much since i moved to the Nexus 6 -=

      1. Wow, really? Why?

        1. size to hand ratio….the Nexus is just a bit hard to comfortable hold for long periods of time with 1 hand. The G3 could be cupped with one hand and just felt easier to handle. that and the tap to wake/sleep features….they are the 2 things I miss the most

          1. I have the G3 and even though I got rid of the lag thanks to XDA I still hate the device because of the bad taste that’s been left due to LG’s horrible software. They even got many people to think that the lag was caused by the QHD screen.

          2. aww see I dont mind the UI at all. I dont see why you feel its horrible. I never had a problem with lag….at all. or do you mean batter life was bad caused by the QHD screen?? that was my only problem with the phone was battery life….

          3. Nope, it definitely lagged. Most reviewers complained about it too. Mine doesn’t lag anymore thanks to AOSP. Battery life was worse on the stock ROM as well. Like, a lot worse as you’re still experiencing. If it wasn’t for XDA I’d have tried my best to return this thing.

          4. cant disagree with you there. I installed a different kernel to help battery life and lag. was smooth sailing ever since. but i still kept LG’s UI, I just liked it. I know I was the few who did tho haha

          5. i dont even care about the lag, i care about the battery life more… wish this thing had a 3500mah in it.

  17. It’s probably going to be the size of a whale. Literally :P

  18. I hope this higher tier or the G4 will use a more stock Android UI. The LG crap they put over it does nothing but cause lag and make things look crap.

  19. Hopefully LG creates a true Note competitor to keep Sammy on their toes. They have to create some interesting features to make use of the bigger screens we see today. Samsung killed it with the S pen optimizations they made on Note 4. I would love to be forced to take a hard look at a large screen LG device this fall with unique large screen features. The Note 5 is gonna be tough to beat, but if LG decides to go after that sector I think they have the chops to compete.

  20. Our G3’s are much better than the HTC and Samsung phones we had. Dropped the HTC when they went to a sealed battery. Samsung UI stinks. Hope LG doesn’t fall to the be a fake iPhone thinking that is taking over at Samsung.

  21. Return of the G Pro?

  22. Cool hopefully it won’t have that rocker switch on the back. NOT a fan.

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