LG V30 release date and news: All you need to know

LG, as you all may know, was one of the first few companies to make a near bezel-less phone (aka the LG G6) available to mainstream audiences. While the smartphone itself is still pretty capable, in the Android world, phones age quite quickly.

A device launched little less than 6-months ago (at any point in time) can many-a-times be irrelevant very soon (thanks to the booming technology). The LG G6, sadly enough, isn’t an exception from this trend which exactly brings us to the company’s next flagship handset.

In other words, the LG V30, the successor to the last year’s LG V20. There have been quite a few leaks surrounding the smartphone in the recent past and here’s everything we know about the device so far.

LG V30 Release Date

LG had released the V10 in October 2015 while the V20 was released in September 2016. If the company sticks to its same one-year cycle, we should see the LG V30 release in a similar timeframe.

The same has also been confirmed by the company recently. In a not-so-cryptic invite, LG has revealed that it will be launching a new smartphone on August 31, which, in all its likelihood, will be the LG V30.

So, there you go. Save the date on your calendar.

Also, the smartphone, according to the latest reports, will be up for pre-orders starting September 17 and will be made available starting September 28th in the US. While on its home turf, South Korea, the phone will be available starting September 15th.

LG V30 Specs (expected)

Design and Display

LG’s last two smartphones, the LG V20 and the LG G6 had similar-yet-unique designs. While the former had a light military STD 810G body albeit slightly being big, the latter came with a near bezel-less display and impressed many.

The LG V30 is expected to bring the best of both these designs. The yet-to-be-announced smartphone will borrow the near bezel-less design from the LG G6 which definitely is good news for folks who want more screen-space on their phones.

But, this could also result in the elimination of the secondary display on top which has been a customary of sorts on the V series phones. With a nearly bezel-less design rumored, secondary display on the LG V30 seems pretty redundant. But again, there have been quite a few rumors indicating that the LG V30 will get one. So, we can’t rule out possibility just yet.

Anyway, moving ahead, quite a few design renders of the LG V30 have leaked so far giving us a good idea of what it will look like aesthetically. According to which, the V30 will feature a dual camera setup on the back below which will be a circular fingerprint scanner.

The smartphone is expected to don a glass and metal sandwiched body which also means that removable battery feature will be missing (appreciated by many LG fans). To make up for it though, the V30 could come with wireless charging support.

Other features include a USB Type-C port at the bottom alongside a single speaker. The 3.5mm headphone jack, on the other hand, will be placed on top, not an ideal position, but works nonetheless. The smartphone is also expected to come with the IP68 dust and water resistance.

As far as display is concerned, the LG V30 will have fewer bezels than the LG G6 and will come with an aspect ratio of 18:9. The smartphone is expected to boast a 6-inch (or even bigger) display.

There’s going to be one big change, though. According to the rumors, the company will finally be making a switch to OLED panels with the LG V30. It will also support Google’s Daydream tech right off the bat which means a QHD display can be expected, at the least.

Confirming these rumors, LG has recently revealed that the LG V30 will feature a 6-inch plastic OLED FullVision display with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 5 shatter-resistant technology running over it.

Apparently, this will be the largest display the company has produced in the past four years. Interestingly, the actual body of the LG V30 will be relatively smaller than last year’s LG V20.

Processor

There have been quite a few leaks and renders revealing many things about the LG V30. But, so far, there haven’t been many leaks revealing the specs of the handset.

Nevertheless, considering that the LG V30 will be a flagship handset, you can expect it to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 SoC with the Adreno 540 GPU taking care of graphics.

RAM and Storage

To go along with the Snapdragon 835 SoC will be 6GB of RAM if not 4GB which has become a norm of sorts on flagship handsets these days.

The smartphone is expected to come with at least 32GB if not 64GB of storage onboard topping out at 128GB. Akin to the LG V20 and LG G6, the Lg V30 is also expected to feature a microSD card slot which will allow users to expand the storage further.

Software

On the software front, the LG V30 should offer a similar experience as the LG G6 does. In other words, we can expect the smartphone to arrive on Android Nougat with a layer of company’s custom LG UX 6.0+ on top. There will, of course, be a bunch of other software additions, such as the new Floating Bar which essentially is a software replacement of the secondary display but with a slightly different functionality, customizable Always-on Display, and more.

Camera

Last year’s LG V20 had the same camera setup seen on the LG G5 which was launched before the V20. Taking this into account, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see the company repeat the same with the LG V30.

In which case, expect to see the LG V30 with a dual 13MP (OIS, 3-axis, phase detection AF) sensor paired with another 13MP (f/2.4, no AF) one on the back. As usual, one among these 13MP sensors will be a wide angle lens while the other will function as your standard sensor.

That being said, there could be one big change, which could make the LG V30’s camera stand out in comparison to the competition. Word has it that the V30’s primary camera will come with an aperture of f/1.6 — an industry first, if true. Now that could look like a minor change when compared with other flagship phones most of which come with an aperture of f/1.6. But, it could make a significant difference in low-light imaging considering the fact that smaller the aperture size, the more the light it lets in.

As for video recording, the V30 should allow you to record 2160p videos at 30fps and 1080p videos at either 30 or 60fps alongside HDR recording support.

For selfies, there will be a 5MP f/2.2 camera at the front that can record 1080p videos at 30fps. Or perhaps, the V30 may feature a slightly better sensor (than the LG G6) at the front to improve the selfie camera performance.

Battery

The LG V20 had a 3,200mAh removable battery last year. As mentioned earlier, this time around, the company may not include a removable battery this year.

Perhaps, it could improve the battery capacity slightly by taking it up to 3500mAh or stick to the same 3,200mAh one (albeit non-removable) as rumors suggest.

Also, as mentioned above, chances are, the LG V30 will come with wireless charging support.

Other features

The LG V20, for the most part, was aimed at users who either like to consume content or create content on their phones (videos specifically). While we expect the V30 to cater to an even bigger audience this year, it’s a given that the company will concentrate more on providing high-quality audio and video experiences this time as well. Which means, the smartphone should get an ESS Quad DAC this year too, along with the ability to record high-res audio in video recordings. Other features include face and voice recognition (even when the display is off) to unlock your device.

Also, the smartphone is expected to come with Immersion’s TouchSense technology for improved haptics claimed to “enable device manufacturers to simulate the connected experiences of the real world.” “With haptics, users are able to feel the buttons on a mobile screen. Gamers feel the G-forces applied to a car around an S curve. And movie watchers feel the percussion of an explosion,” the company said in a press release.

LG is also expected to launch a Plus variant of the V30 with the major differences being higher storage space and better audio hardware.

LG V30 Price

Pricing will, undoubtedly, play a huge role in LG V30’s success. And, going by the rumor mill, the South Korean company seems to have found just the right price tag. The standard variant of the smartphone will apparently set you back by $700 which is relatively low when compared to that of the Galaxy Note 8 or the Apple iPhone 8 both of which are rumored to be priced over $1000. The Plus variant, on the other hand, will come at $875. It’ll be interesting to see if this pricing strategy will work out in the company’s favor or not.