Earlier reports suggested that the LG G7 would appear in the first quarter of 2018, alongside other flagship devices such as Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+. However, the latest developments now imply that the next entry in the South Korean tech firm's G series will not see the light of day. It is rumored that LG is officially cancelling the G series lineup, although the LG G6's successor will still be released with a new brand name.
LG has yet to reveal its plans for the next flagship smartphones, but a leaked conversation between an unnamed LG official and the South Korean tech publication The Investor has spilled the beans for the LG G7's future. It was noted that LG is going with the plan to launch a new premium handset in the first part of 2018. Contrary to the previous reports, LG's first flagship device of the year will not be the LG G7.
It was reported that the LG G7 will undergo a rebranding, and the public will see a new handset with a different naming. Instead of following the iterative G series update, the name of the flagship LG smartphone could have a two-digit number. The alleged conversation with the LG executive reveals that there is no final name for the new LG G7 yet, and a two-digit numbering similar to LG's V series is just one of the options.
Moreoever, the decision to give a new brand name to the LG G7 was defended by the unnamed LG executive, stating that other leading smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung have made the same move for their respective products. As per Tech Radar, abandoning the G series numbering might be due to a minor reason, which is to avoid the LG G7 to look like an outdated device generation compared to the iPhone 8, iPhone X, and Galaxy S8. It can be recalled that Samsung made the same action for the same reason when it skipped the Galaxy Note 6 numbering.
Aside from a rebranding, the LG G7 can be a standout by boasting up-to-date hardware specs. For one, the upcoming flagship smartphone should use Qualcomm's recently launched Snapdragon 845 chipset, which serves as the successor to the top-tier Snapdragon 835 processor. The LG G6 somehow made a good impression upon its launch last year, but some tech experts were disappointed that it did not feature the Snapdragon 835, which was unveiled prior to the device's launch.
