After 10 years of iPhone, copying the Apple’s design and features still ranks pretty high on a smartphone maker’s to-do list. That’s because the iPhone is the most coveted handest out there, so competitors borrow its features to lure in customers who can’t afford Apple’s price tags. Asus just confirmed this strategy at MWC a few days ago, and there’s an army of iPhone X clones being demoed at the show.
I can’t say I expected to see LG included in that list, or at least not so soon. But if this LG G7 leak is genuine, then LG might copy the iPhone X the wrong way.
What’s the right way, you ask? The iPhone X has an all-screen design with minimal top, bottom, and side bezels. The notch is there to house all front-facing elements (sensors, cameras, and speaker), including the 3D TrueDepth camera that supports Face ID functionality.
The wrong way of copying it happens to be the cheapest way. You need to replicate the notch design without also installing a 3D front camera that can measure depth-of-field. And you can’t extend the display all the way down to the bottom, because you’re either using a cheaper LCD screen instead of a flexible OLED display, and your phone still needs a 3.5mm headphone jack. Finally, you keep the fingerprint sensor on the back, especially if you don’t have a 3D camera on the front because that’s the only secure way to log into the phone or authenticate payments. Just ask Asus.
First posted on Ynet, a short video shows us the purported LG G7 design. Remember that LG decided pretty much at the last minute not to unveil the G7 at the show. In fact, the company is overhauling the device, according to some reports, and should announce its first flagship of the year this summer. That phone might not even be called LG G7 when it finally launches.
On the other hand, LG apparently brought the G7 prototype at MWC, to show it off behind closed doors.
From the looks of it, LG chose to copy the iPhone X the wrong way. We can see a disappearing notch, Zenfone 5 style, which makes the G7’s screen look pretty much like the LG G6 (top image), complete with rounded corners. It’s unclear why we need a notch in the first place, especially since the screen doesn’t extend all the way to the bottom. Shrug emoji.
Ynet says the handset packs a 6-inch OLED screen with 3120 x 1440 resolution (900 PPI) and 19.5:9 aspect ratio, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip, 4GB/6GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB of storage, 16-megapixel dual cameras, 8-megapixel wide-angle front camera, fingerprint sensor on the back, and 3,000 mAh battery. No mention of 3D face-scanning features whatsoever.
Little bird told me that in the same venue that this G7 was being shown, there was also a Q7 and V35. And a new watch.
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 28, 2018
Evan Blass, meanwhile, heard from a different source that LG did show off the G7 at the show, right alongside the V35, which is supposedly a V30 successor. LG is also working on a new watch Blass said.
