LG to continue current smartphone strategy by skipping the Snapdragon 875 for at least 1H 2021

It’s no secret that LG’s mobile business has been a drag on the Korean tech giant’s otherwise profitable businesses. Despite this, the company remains determined to make a profit out of the mobile business and adopted a different strategy last year by ending its high-end G-series line. In its place, LG launched the Velvet, which dropped features like high-end audio DACs and instead focused on bringing a high-end design to a much more affordable price point.

A key aspect of this approach included dropping the G-series tradition of using only high-end Qualcomm SoCs. Thus, instead of fitting the Velvet with a Snapdragon 865, LG chose to fit it with the more affordable Snapdragon 765G. Similarly, the just released LG Wing with swivel display is also more affordably priced than the dual-screen Surface Phone and other experimental devices on the market.

The latest word out of Korea is that LG is set to adopt the same approach for its 2021 handset range -- at least for the first half of the year when the forthcoming Snapdragon 875 will be most expensive. Instead, LG is said to favor fitting its forthcoming handsets with the successor to the Snapdragon 765G which is expected to be called the Snapdragon 775G. If LG does release a smartphone with a Snapdragon 875 it could find its way into the next V-series phone or LG’s next Explorer Project smartphone, which was teased at the launch of the Wing a couple of months ago.