The LG G6 flagship will be at least 20% cheaper to manufacture than the LG G5, industry experts believe. Kim Dong-won, a market analyst at KB Securities, told The Investor that a reduced cost of smartphone components is bound to increase the company’s profit margin on the LG G6, which should help LG’s mobile division to start turning its fortunes around. The Seoul-based tech giant’s shares hit a record low last month as its mobile unit continued to struggle. Neither the LG G5 nor the LG V20 achieved significant commercial success over the course of 2016, which is why the South Korean company posted some disappointing financials last year.
Namely, LG’s mobile division posted a $389.4 million loss in the third quarter of 2016. The South Korean conglomerate is now looking to recoup or at least reduce these losses with the LG G6. As the company is unlikely to pass on manufacturing savings to the consumers, it should achieve better results once its next flagship hits the market even if it doesn’t sell any better than the LG G5. Naturally, the tech giant is expecting that the LG G6 will outperform its predecessor in every aspect, sales included. Recent rumors suggest that the device will be priced at between $600 and $700.
The LG G6 is expected to be revealed at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona which is scheduled to start on February 27th. The company is reportedly looking to launch its next flagship as soon as possible as it’s adamant to capitalize on the fact that its main competitor Samsung pushed back the release of the Galaxy S8 to April. Due to that state of affairs, it’s believed that the LG G6 will hit the market by early March. The smartphone is rumored to sport a non-modular, waterproof design, a removable battery, and an iris scanner. It’s likely that the LG G6 will be powered by the new Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip and between 6GB and 8GB of RAM. Finally, the device will almost certainly ship with Android Nougat out of the box. More information on the LG G6 is expected to follow in the coming weeks.