What LG needs to do to make the V30 a success

It’s been just two and a half months since the last flagship phone from LG, the G6, went on sale in the US. Unfortunately, it looks like the phone got caught up in the wake of Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus launch just a couple weeks later. We have seen prices for the G6 go down quite a bit in the brief time it has been on sale. The unlocked version can now be bought for less than $500 on eBay, well below its original launch price.

Even US carriers are selling the G6 below its launch cost. That includes T-Mobile, which has cut the price down to $500, both with monthly payments and even if you pay for it in full. Sprint is selling it for $14.75 a month for 24 months, which means you can snap it up for just $354 over two years. Add all of this activity up, and it seems clear that retailers and carriers want to get rid of their G6 inventory quickly.

Of course, this puts a ton of pressure on LG to make sure its next flagship phone is more of a success. Rumors and image leaks about that device, the V30, have started to pop up more frequently in the last few weeks. The latest rumor claims LG will officially announce the V30 at a press event on August 30, one day before the official start of the IFA trade show in Berlin, Germany. The phone is expected to face the most competition from the rumored launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which is expected to be officially revealed just a few days beforehand at a separate press event in New York City on August 26.

So what can LG do to make the V30 a success, in order to avoid what happened to the G6? We have a few suggestions for the company on that very subject!

Don’t skimp on the specs

For consumers, one of the LG G6’s biggest issues was the fact that it came with the slightly older Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. If the phone launched in January 2017, that wouldn’t be an issue. But because the G6 launched so closely to the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus (which are both powered by the faster Snapdragon 835), many users felt that the G6 was instantly less capable when it came to market.

Recent V30 rumors have indicated that the phone will indeed sport the new 835 chip, which is indeed good news for folks who want the latest-and-greatest specs powering their smartphones.

Use a larger version of the G6’s 18:9 display

While the LG G6 may not be selling all that well, reviews for the phone have praised its 5.7-inch screen with its unusual 18:9 display ratio. We would love to see a larger version of this same kind of display on the V30, and it would certainly be a good contrast to the rumored curved Infinity Display that is expected to be part of the Galaxy Note 8. We have heard rumors that the V30 may have a curved display as well, but we think it would be better if it kept the flat screen like the G6 did.

Price the LG V30 competitively with the Galaxy Note 8

If LG really wants to cut into Samsung’s vast customer base, it also needs to make sure its phones are priced to compete immediately. LG could cut the price of the V30 so it’s $100 to $150 lower than the price of the Galaxy Note 8 right from the start. If LG can launch the V30 with both a lower price and hardware that can match or exceed the Note 8’s, it will likely have a much bigger success than the G6 did when it went up against the Galaxy S8.

Offer the new two-year warranty that was just added to the G6

Last week, LG announced that new and current owners of the G6 in the US will be able to take advantage of the company’s newly revealed Second Year Promise Program. It extends the free limited warranty for the phone from one year to two years.

Offering that same Second Year Promise Program for the V30, and making it available worldwide instead of just the US, could be a huge selling phone for the upcoming phone as well. Adding an extra blanket of consumer security is a win-win in our book.

Launch the V30 worldwide at around the same time

One of the big problems with the release of the G6 was that LG decided to stagger its launch. The phone first became available in South Korea in early March, followed by a release in North America in early April, and a European launch later in that same month. If LG can get its shipping infrastructure together so that the V30 can launch worldwide on or around the same timeframe,  that would certainly help its overall sales.

What do you think?

Of course, these are just our opinions on what we think the LG V30 needs to be successful, but we definitely want to hear from you. What features would you like to see included with the V30? Sound off in the comment section below.