Report suggests LG might kill the G series

A report circulating today is suggesting that LG might not release the expected G9 ThinQ and plans to kill off the G series entirely.

Naver reports a quote form an industry source who says that at a product briefing for mobile operators, LG said that it would “abandon” the G series branding and introduce a new line to replace it.

This comes after the US-only launch of the LG V60 ThinQ recently, a phone which is not coming to the UK or even LG’s native South Korea at present. We expected a G9 phone before the V60, but LG is once again mixing up its strategy in erratic fashion as it treads water in the industry, losing sales to Samsung, Oppo, Huawei and OnePlus.

The report also suggests that the call was made as the G9 ThinQ was heading towards being a Snapdragon 700-series phone and LG did not want to associate that with the G series.

The first G phone was the LG Optimus G in 2012, with classic phones such as 2013’s G3 standing out as pioneering Android flagship phones (we also loved 2016’s G6, the first major 18:9 aspect ratio smartphone). But the recent G7 and G8 failed to move the needle for the company, who has since released a G8X in some markets.

The G8X might end up being the last G phone, because although renders of the G9 leaked some time ago, they look very much like the V60 that LG has now released. Time will tell if the rumours are true, but we would be sad to see LG leaving the G series behind.