According to information out of South Korea, LG’s next flagships are set to launch ahead of schedule, compared to the past few years. The LG V30 is slated to be on sale (not just announced) in August of this year. The LG V20 was announced in September of 2016 and then went on sale in late October. So that’s well ahead of when it was launched last year. Now as for the LG G7, it’s slated to be launched in January 2018, which means it’ll likely be shown off at CES in January. This is a bit unusual, as in recent years, smartphones haven’t been announced or debuted at CES. Those devices are usually saved for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the month after.
Launching successors ahead of when the predecessor was announced is nothing new. Typically smartphones are announced around 10-11 months after the predecessor was announced. It was only in the past couple of years that most smartphones began to be announced at the same time each year. So with LG slated to launch these two devices a bit earlier, it’s not a huge surprise, and there’s likely a good reason for it. The LG V30 is going to be launching (assuming this report is correct) around the time of the Galaxy Note 8, and well ahead of the upcoming iPhone 8. While the LG G7 would be launching ahead of the Galaxy S9, which should be announced at Mobile World Congress. So it’s a way for LG to really beat its biggest competition to market. Which is something it really needs to do.
The LG G6 launched at Mobile World Congress this year, and the G5 last year at the same event. So it would be a bit surprising to see the LG G7 not debut at the event next year. But it’s likely a smart move by LG. Considering it is looking to get more of the spotlight, which will help it sell more units. Seeing as Mobile World Congress is where everyone announces a new smartphone, it’s pretty difficult to get the spotlight from its competitors. So this makes a bit of sense for LG, and it won’t be the first time it has launched a new smartphone at CES, it launched both of the G Flex smartphones at the trade show.