It’s official, LG is the new OnePlus. No kidding.
The South Korean consumer electronics powerhouse seems to have borrowed some of the marketing tactics and publicity stunts deployed by the Chinese startup every time it has a new smartphone coming up: milking every feature of an upcoming device dry by garnering as much press attention and coverage about it as possible.
Not that we are surprised anyway. LG is on record officially releasing cases for new smartphones even before the devices themselves are launched on several occasions.
The latest in LG’s string of chest-thumping pronouncements in the run-up to the launch of its upcoming flagship smartphone for the second half of the year, the LG V20, plays up the device’s superior built-in audio features.
At the start of the month, LG made another announcement stressing that the V20 will be the first smartphone in the world to ship with the yet-to-be-released Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
LG says in a press statement released earlier today that the V20, “will be the first smartphone in the industry to feature 32-bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC (digital to analog converter) capabilities, bringing a superior audio experience to mobile for the very first time.”
The statement continues, “A Quad DAC delivers a crisp and clear sound that comes closest to a live performance when using compatible wired headphones. The sound is superior to that produced by a traditional DAC as it can reduce up to 50 percent of ambient noise levels. Videos taken with the V20 are accompanied by a soundtrack that can capture the roaring sound of waves crashing on a beach or conversations among two individuals at a noisy party.”
In short, LG’s upcoming V20 smartphone will have better audio quality than any other device we have seen released to the market so far.
This is not a stretch. LG has made a name for itself by packing top-of-the-range audio features in its flagship devices since the LG G2 was unveiled 3 years ago. Its current flagship smartphone, the G5, has specialized modular accessories (Friends) for audio, the Bang & Olufsen-made PLAY and LG’s own Hi-Fi Plus. Earlier in the year, the company announced that it would be partnering with renown audio equipment maker Harman Kardon for its signature premium lineup of Bluetooth headsets, the TONEs. LG even has a dedicated Hi-Fi Music service so that users of its premium devices can take full advantage of their unique audio capabilities.
In the case of the V20’s Quad DAC, LG partnered with another company, ESS Technologies, just as was the case with the V10 last year.
LG is set to unveil the V20 at an event on September 6th.
The device will be the second member of the V-series which came to life last year with the release of the V10 which received rave reviews across the globe.
As per renders published by Android news site Android Authority, the LG V20 is likely to carry over the G5’s modular design albeit with more polish to address the concerns everyone had with the gap on the G5. It is not clear if one of the V10’s main standout features, a dual-display on the front, will make the cut in the V20.
LG’s focus on the V20 comes after the company’s mobile division posted disappointing sales figures of the G5 which negatively impacted its overall profits. “The launch of the new V series and expanding sales of mass-tier K and X series models are expected to improve the business unit’s performance next quarter,” LG affirmed when it released its quarterly results at the end of July.
