IFA 2018 | LG expands its G7 portfolio by announcing the wallet-friendly G7 One and G7 Fit smartphones

LG has managed to garner a sizeable market share in the US last year despite the overall weak performance of its mobile division and this year, the South Korean OEM has managed to put out three flagship-grade handsets with the launch of the V30S, V35, and G7 ThinQ. The G7 ThinQ in particular, managed to get a good recommendation in our review. LG apparently wants to diversify its portfolio even further and at IFA 2018, the company will be introducing the G7 One and the G7 Fit.

LG says that the rationale behind launching these handsets, which borrow a lot from the G7 ThinQ, is to address the needs of users who need a flagship-class device but would be reluctant to spend for features that they might not find use for. 

LG is hopping onto the Android One bandwagon with the G7 One. A cursory glance at the specs tells us this is actually what the G6 should have been. Despite launching in 2017, the G6 had to make do with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC as the Snapdragon 835 was still a Samsung-exclusive till the Galaxy S8 launched. The Snapdragon 835 in the G7 One is paired to 4 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. Design-wise, the G7 One is a near-exact replica of the G7 ThinQ. The handset sports a 6.1-inch QHD+ near bezel-less display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, thanks to the notch. Since this is an Android One handset, it runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box with the promise of an Android 9.0 Pie update in the not-so-distant future. Also on offer is the same Hi-Fi Quad DAC with DTS:X headphone support and the Boombox Speaker found in the G7 ThinQ, which should please audiophiles. 

The other LG smartphone that was announced today is the G7 Fit. The G7 Fit is not part of the Android One program so expect long waiting times for software updates in typical LG fashion. That said, the G7 Fit sports a very capable Snapdragon 821 SoC although, LG could have used more modern Qualcomm SoCs such as the Snapdragon 710 or even the 670. The Snapdragon 710 is a tad bit slower the 821 but has a faster GPU and is based on a more power-efficient 10nm process. The Snapdragon 670 was shown trading blows with the Snapdragon 835 in single-core performance and would have been an ideal choice for the G7 Fit. But hey, it's LG's call and this is what we get for now. The rest of the specifications are in line with the G7 One save for the fact that the G7 Fit also offers a 64 GB storage variant.

The G7 Fit comes with AI CAM pre-installed while the G7 One will be getting it via a separate update. LG did not reveal the availability and pricing details yet so it remains to be seen how much wallet-friendly these phones actually are. Pricing will be crucial to the success of these phones as these days, we are witnessing flagship killer phones (and their killers) such as the OnePlus 6, the Asus Zenfone 5Z, and the Poco F1 that offer Snapdragon 845-class performance at very enticing prices.

Those interested to try out these phones can pay a visit to LG's booth in Hall 18 of Messe Berlin from August 31 to September 5.

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