The LG G5 is quite an innovative smartphone, as it features a modular design that allows additional hardware to be attached at the bottom to provide extra functionality. During LG’s presentation at MWC 2016, the company focused on the experience brought by their new flagship phone and the accessories designed specifically to work with it, rather than just mentioning a bunch of specs. Still, the LG G5 is a very powerful handset, as it integrates the Snapdragon 820 processor and 4 GB of RAM, among other high-end specs. It is not uncommon for companies to release several variants of their phones with similar specs and especially for different markets. This time, though, it seems like the company will release an underpowered version of the G5 in some regions.
The Snapdragon 820 version of the LG G5 will be sold in most major markets like the U.S., Europe and Korea, while other markets such as Latin America will receive a version of the LG G5 powered by the Snapdragon 652 and 3 GB of RAM. These components will apparently be the only differences between the two variants of the LG G5. The Snapdragon 652 is an octa-core processor while the Snapdragon 820 is a quad-core processor and yet, the former is less powerful as it is clocked at a lower speed and it includes a weaker GPU. Additionally, the Snapdragon 652 supports LPDDR3 RAM which is less power efficient and slower than the LPDDR4 RAM supported by the Snapdragon 820. The features on offer with the underpowered version were recently reported with suggestions that this could be an LG G5 Lite, however if the currently information is correct, then it is a G5 but destined for select markets. It was also reported that the Snapdragon 652 version of the LG G5 won’t support the LG 360 VR headset, which was announced in the same event as part of the “Friends” lineup of accessories.
Apparently, the reason behind this latter decision is that the company does not get much interest from people in Latin America towards VR technology and this variant of the LG G5 will sport lower specs in order to make the device a less expensive option, without sacrificing too much on performance. This was communicated by the LG’s Sales Manager from Chile, Cristi¡n Correa, so it remains to be seen if the underpowered LG G5 will indeed be a more affordable option compared to other smartphones.