The LG G5 was a rather curious smartphone boasting a unique modular design accompanied with some premium specs. However, consumers didn’t reward LG’s ambition to innovate, which is why the company’s mobile division posted some significant losses over the course of this year. Given that state of affairs, the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer decided to shake things up, restructure its mobile division, create a new Program Management Office in charge of long-term smartphone strategy, and play it safe with the LG G6. Namely, by most accounts, LG’s upcoming flagship is expected to mark a return to non-modular design and instead focus on hardware improvements.
Industry analysts are optimistic about this change of strategy, which is why the LG G6 is now projected to sell around five million units over the course of 2017. While the company never provided exact sales figures of the LG G5, it’s believed that the said flagship only shipped in around five million units since launching worldwide in early April. In other words, the LG G6 is now expected to do better than its predecessor. The South Korean company and its investors are certainly hoping that will be the case seeing how LG’s mobile division posted $390 million in losses in the third quarter of 2016 alone.
The Seoul-based consumer electronics manufacturer already signaled a major change of mobile strategy with the LG V20, a conventional device focused on delivering premium specs, and not trying to revolutionize smartphone design. As for the upcoming LG G6, it’s rumored that the said Android flagship will boast an iris scanner and a removable battery, as well as support for wireless charging. Other possible features include a waterproof design, Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip, and 6GB of RAM. All in all, the next addition to the LG G lineup is likely going to be able to go toe-to-toe with any other Android flagship in 2017. We should know more in a few months as the South Korean company is expected to officially unveil the LG G6 at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona. The said event is scheduled to begin on February 27th, while the LG G6 itself should be hitting the market by early April.