The Korean phonemaker has announced three new Android models, with the leading one – K61 – featuring a 48-megapixel main camera
LG has announced three new midrange Android models – K61, K51S and K41S, the leading one of which – the K61 – features a 48-megapixel main camera and will probably cost a lot less than flagship devices.
The LG K61 has a 48MP sensor on the back, along with an 8MP wide-angle, 5MP depth sensor, and 2MP macro camera, but no “zoom” camera.
The other two models, K51S and K41S, have 32-megapixel and 13-megapixel main camera, respectively.
All three new phones have 6.5-inch, 20:9 displays; 4,000mAh batteries; and “2.3GHz octa-core” processors. Unlike other Qualcomm or MediaTek chipsets, they support 2.3GHz speed as well as high resolution cameras. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 is a close contender, but supports a speed of 2.2GHz. The MediaTek Helio P30 and P35 also come closer at 2.3GHz, but don’t support high-resolution camera.
The phones are pretty big, given the large screens and batteries; they’re all around 3 inches wide and 0.32 inches thick. They’re military-standard 810G durable and waterproof, and they have standard headphone jacks, rear-mounted fingerprint sensors, and dedicated Google Assistant buttons, but they don’t have removable batteries.
LG’s midrange phones used to be solid, reliable best-sellers, but their profiles have fallen in the US in recent years. Counterpoint Research still marks LG as the No. 3 player in the US market after Apple and Samsung, with a 12 percent market share as of Q3 2019.
Currently, LG’s best-selling midrange line in the US are the Stylo phones, big-screen devices that have a capacitive stylus. Analyst firm Wave7 Research described the Stylo line as “a powerhouse at prepaid” in its most recent report, with the carrier’s lineup taking about 25 percent sales share at Metro by T-Mobile, right behind Samsung.
Metro by T-Mobile sells the LG K40 for $179.99, but Cricket, Boost, and the mainline carriers do not. Rather, they sell the LG Aristo and Tribute series, which are even lower-end lineups. The Stylo, Aristo, and Tribute phones go for low prices, which means that if US carriers decide to take some variant of the K61 or K51S, there may be high demand for high-resolution cameras.
LG says the new models will be coming to “the Americas” in the second quarter, and didn’t specify a price.