Leaks from sources in South Korea point to the LG G7 being launched in January 2018. This is definitely ahead of LG’s normal schedule that reveals their flagship device at Mobile World Congress (MWC) annually for some time now in Barcelona, Spain. As for the other flagship from LG, the LG V30, it is set to be on sale in August 2017. With two different flagships being prepared by LG, what do we know about them?

LG G7 latest news and updates
If there is one particular thing that has been confirmed about the LG G7, it would be the processor that will keep this 2018 flagship model chugging along. We are looking at a Snapdragon 845 processor from Qualcomm, and in order to maintain their edge as a flagship device, we are quite sure that LG will maintain the dual camera setup at the back. It is simply a good idea which first kicked off with the modular LG G5 in 2016, and continued in the 2017 flagship LG G6. However, it does not seem likely that LG will proceed with the modular path, having tried it just once last year, and they are not likely to revisit such an idea.

Leaked specifications of the Snapdragon 845 processor also point to an X20 modem, which will feature 1.2GBit/s downlink speed.

Apart from that, the operating system of choice by then would most probably be Android O, or Android 8.0, or Android 8.0 Oreo -- take your pick. After all, Android O is tipped for a release before 2017 is over, so it would make perfect sense that after Google’s very own updated Pixel 2 is released, so too, will LG roll out an Android O-powered LG G7. It is not as though LG has been late to the latest Android version party lately, with the LG V20 being a prime example of a non-Google device sporting Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box shortly after Google released Nougat.

While LG has decided to break from “tradition” of unleashing their latest flagship at MWC each year, perhaps a January 2018 release of the LG G7 is a smart idea. After all, LG would certainly want to take advantage of the early mover advantage, and hence, placing the LG G7 under the spotlight even before MWC would definitely rake interest, although you would not expect to see Samsung or Apple loyalists make a jump to the LG G7 simply because it came out first compared to the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the iPhone 9.

Assuming the LG V30 rolls out some time during the Galaxy Note 8 later this year, both of these would be duking it out for bragging rights as the latest best flagship, as least until the iPhone 8 is released. LG would definitely want to continue their one upmanship against Samsung with an earlier LG G7 release, never mind that Samsung has always revealed their Galaxy S series smartphones later in the year compared to LG.

As for the purported January 2018 release, does this mean that LG will take the opportunity to showcase their new flagship smartphone at CES 2018 (Consumer Electronics Show)? Sure, it has gone past the 50th edition of the annual consumer electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas, but you can be sure that LG’s press conferences are never boring to begin with, and a new flagship smartphone announcement would definitely spice things up a whole lot.

We look forward to see what kind of innovations the LG G7 will sport when it arrives in January 2018. Hopefully it won’t be plagued by dead battery issues a year down the road, which thankfully, is easily resolved through a battery replacement.