South Korea’s two largest smartphone manufacturers, LG and Samsung, are busy preparing their 2017 flagship devices – the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 respectively. An unnamed carrier official has leaked when these two manufacturers are to launch their devices in South Korea: the LG G6 will be on sale from March 10 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 from April 21. This lines right up with prior reports.
We already have a very good idea of when the companies plan to announce their new devices. LG is going to announce the water and dust resistant LG G6 this Sunday and showcase the device during MWC 2017 in Barcelona. Samsung is expected to reveal the new Galaxy S8 on March 29 in New York, but has already said it will announce when on February 27. Industry rumors were that the LG G6 would be available to buy from mid-March and the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in mid to late April.
If the latest leak is true, it means the LG G6 will be on sale six weeks before the Samsung Galaxy S8. According to the industry source, Samsung was originally planning to release the Galaxy S8 in South Korea on April 14, a week before the international release on April 21. However, “due to reasons such as size of supplies and others” Samsung changed their plans and the Galaxy S8 will now be released on the same day all over the world. This is good news for Samsung fans everywhere, except perhaps South Korea! It could also mean that the LG G6 will be on sale for over two weeks before the Samsung Galaxy S8 is even officially announced.
LG is set to make the LG G6 available for pre-order from March 2 to March 9, with Samsung taking a more flexible approach, presumably depending on how well the LG G6 and Galaxy S8 are received by the industry. It will be interesting to see how many customers wait for the official Samsung Unpacked event before deciding if they should buy the LG G6 or Samsung Galaxy S8 device. The two devices are expected to have different specifications including differences in the chipset, display technology and camera set-up. We look forward to seeing the pair side-by-side once the two hit markets.
