November 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics is considering pushing forward the release date of its flagship G series smartphone to February, a month earlier than usual, according to news reports on Dec. 26.

The G5 smartphone, which was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Spain on Feb. 21 this year, went on sale from March 31 -- 10 days earlier than its domestic rival Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S7.

LG Electronics' G5

As Samsung will likely postpone the release date of the upcoming Galaxy S8 to April due to the ongoing recall program and investigation to find the exact cause of the fire and explosion of the Galaxy Note 7, LG may make the most of the void in the smartphone sector early next year.

An industry source was quoted by tech news outlet ETnews as saying, “LG has advanced the entire schedule to produce the G6 smartphone from the beginning to outrace other rivals.”

LG’s smartphone business has suffered an operating loss for the six quarters until the third quarter this year.

LG will start mass-producing the G6 after it receives components from parts suppliers from January, according to sources.

The company is said to have ditched the modular design, deployed in the preceding model, for the G6.

The upcoming LG smartphone is expected to be fitted with an iris scanner, a mobile payment solution, and a wireless charging system.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)