Every rumour about LG’s G6, right here

Of all the phones likely to be released in coming months, LG’s G6 has had its fair share of the rumours. In fact, it’s probably had the most, putting it ahead of (or at the very least on even footing with) Samsung’s rumoured Galaxy S8. However, with rumours we won’t see Samsung’s 2017 poster boy until April, LG’s G6 is shaping up to be one of the largest announcements to come at Mobile World Congress.

Let’s take a look at everything we know about the LG G6, even though it’s a few weeks out from MWC just yet, and see how it’s shaping up. We’ll keep this updated as best we can as we approach the event, too.

Current as at January 18.

Release Date

Historically, LG have taken a while to get from announcement to availability; in 2015, the G4 was announced in Singapore in April, and didn’t make it to Australia until June. In 2016, the G5 was announced at MWC, and took a little over a month to go on sale, with a local launch in late April.

We understand that LG is going hard this year, with plans to announce at MWC and go on sale much earlier; in fact, we’ve heard one rumour that the LG G6 might go on sale almost as soon as it’s announced, but more likely, it’ll launch sometime in March 2017

There’s a good reason for LG to launch early this year; all signs indicate that Samsung will not be launching a flagship phone at MWC, meaning that LG might have very little competition if it can get to the market first. Having a phone on shelves a month or more earlier than the “other Korean” competition would be a very good look for LG.

Official Teaser

Specifications

We have a few clues on what’ll be inside the LG G6, but most of the finer details won’t be known until much closer to launch (or potentially at launch). Stand-out items include the newly announced Snapdragon 835 processor, up to 6GB of RAM, 64GB storage as standard, retaining the dual rear camera from the LG G5, and a non-removable, larger battery.

We’ll keep this specs table updated with every detail as it comes.

Design

Look, we don’t want to be cruel, but the LG G5 design was one that clearly came from engineers rather than those who make well-designed, well-received smartphones. It was functional, yes, and had a certain appeal to it … but it didn’t sell.

Design was a big part of that, and with the G6, LG wants to show us that it has listened, and learned.

We don’t know too much of the device’s construction; some rumours suggest a tempered glass back, others suggest a similar plastic-come-metal as used in the G5. One thing is for sure, the renders we’ve seen look gorgeous.

We also know the modules are gone. The G6 will feature a unibody design, with a non-replaceable battery. Let’s be honest, LG’s modules really weren’t that great — though the 360 CAM actually was — and won’t really be missed. The good news? LG’s 360 CAM will likely work with the new LG G6, as it uses a Bluetooth connection, and it works with most smartphones already on the market anyway.

LG Pay

Rumours about LG Pay have been around for ages, and we’ve never really seen too much materialise. The mobile payments market isn’t exactly crowded, but there is a dominant player quickly emerging, and it isn’t Samsung’s Pay (which supports very few Australian banks), and it isn’t Apple’s Pay either (which supports even fewer banks). No, it’s Android Pay, which supports a heap of Australian banks … and in this environment, we’re not sure that LG Pay would be terribly successful here.

However, they’re following the same path as Samsung with the inclusion of a service which reportedly uses both NFC and MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission for older terminals). We understand that if LG Pay is announced, it probably won’t be widely rolled out (at least to begin with).

The good news is Android Pay will likely work just fine.

Pricing

This really is anyone’s guess, and we probably won’t know anything concrete until LG’s local launch announcement, which we expect to be sometime in March 2017. However, we should get a somewhat reasonable indication, as pricing is sometimes talked about in loose terms at MWC, even though firm figures aren’t likely to be floating around.

LG’s G5 launched at $1,099, and there’s every indication that this price might not move an awful lot for the LG G6 in 2017. In fact, there’s a good reason to keep that price about steady; it undercuts the likely pricing of the competition quite significantly, it recognises the growing ‘mid-range’ category and the competition it poses to more expensive phones that don’t offer comparatively more features, and it also could price it well under Samsung’s Galaxy S8 which gives it even more of a competitive edge.

Of course, the thing that will make or break the LG G6 is not just the pricing, but the whole package. It needs to be an excellent phone, it needs to address the concerns with some previous models (early life failure, boot-looping, etc), it needs to drop chintzy gimmicks (modules) and offer genuine quality.

I have little doubt that LG can pull this off … but how the market will react, well, that’s anyone’s guess.