LG To Rebrand The LG G7

In the tech world, consumers recognise a brand through years of sequential sub-brand products. Companies like Samsung and Apple have consistently launched smartphones in their ‘Galaxy’ and ‘iPhone’ lineup. LG, however, might be in the works of shaking things up a bit with its upcoming LG G7 (tentatively named) flagship smartphone.

LG G6

An anonymous company official has conceded that the company is planning to rebrand its flagship ‘G’ lineup with the upcoming device expected to be launched at MWC 2018.

LG is preparing a new brand strategy for the G series in the first half of the year. Numbering the phone with a two-digit number and rebranding the phone with a new name are some of the options on the table.

This isn’t the first time that LG is renaming a phone from the company’s lineup. In 2012, LG launched the Optimus G and by 2013, just one year from the original launch, the company had decided to remove the ‘Optimus’ nomenclature and launched the subsequent smartphone with the ‘LG G2’ moniker. Similarly, the short-lived ‘Vu’ series was transformed into the ‘V’ series which was launched back in 2015.

Another company official from LG, while talking about the decision of rebranding, claimed that this decision on the cards:

Rebranding flagship models is nothing new, and Samsung and Apple have done so for their own flagships.

LG G2

LG flagship phones have historically flown under the radar thanks to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy ‘S’ lineup and Apple iPhones. LG is also known to not invest too much in its smartphones’ marketing, where Samsung and Apple rule the roost. However, while Apple and Samsung only changed the numbering of their phone lineup, simply jumping from iPhone 8 to iPhone X, and Samsung skipped the Note 6 to jump to Note 7, LG’s change seems to be more core level based. The company needs to create strength around its flagship phones and by choosing a newer name that may help the brand connect with consumer better is what LG probably needs. The current lineup of phones from the company, especially flagships have suffered from poor recall value of the brand. LG may be starting a new marketing strategy, or simply making the name more approachable.

While the next flagship phone from LG, presumed to be the LG G7 for now, is just around the corner, it will be followed up by the mega launch of the Galaxy S9 and the S9+ and LG might need an extremely sound strategy to stand out during the new launches. The LG G7 is expected to launch with updated specifications and compete with the likes of the Galaxy S9 in the early part of 2018.

The LG G7 is expected to maintain the 18:9 aspect ratio and presumably cut down on bezels compared to its older sibling, the LG G6. Unlike 2016, where the LG G6 was launched with the Snapdragon 821 instead of the Snapdragon 835, the LG G7 is expected to be launched with the Snapdragon 845, same as the Galaxy S9 and S9+. LG proved with the V30 that it can produce smartphones with great cameras and the G7 is expected to further improve on that aspect. 2018 will also see 6GB of RAM becoming the norm in Android phones and the LG G7 could be a part of the clan and launch with at least 6GB of RAM.