​MWC 2018: New LG premium smartphone coming soon, says mobile boss

LG Electronics will unveil a new premium brand smartphone at a separate event in the coming months, the firm's mobile boss has said.

Development of the phone is not over yet, however, Hwang Jeong-hwan, LG's mobile boss, said at a press conference at Mobile World Congress (MWC). It is too early to announce a precise date but it will be unveiled within the first half of 2018, he added.

"There will be an event where we will showcase a new premium model smartphone soon," he said. "But starting this year we are trying out different strategies and will not follow rivals. We are thinking of fundamentals," Hwang said.

"For the time being, there won't be a major change. A smartphone can't be made within a couple months. There are previous roadmaps that we have drawn for new models. But there will be changes going forward," he added.

At CES last month, LG Electronics CEO Jo Seong-jin said the firm will change the brand names of its flagship phones -- currently G and V -- if needed, but that nothing is finalised.

There has been intense speculation in the South Korean media on whether LG will keep the G or V brand. Both Jo and Hwang said the firm will, but didn't make it clear whether this means they will continue it for flagships or for budget models.

At MWC, LG unveiled a revamped V30 smartphone, dubbed V30S ThinQ, with added AI capabilities focusing on the camera. ThinQ is LG's AI and Internet of Things (IoT) brand and the company has been expanding its usage to TVs before attaching it to the V30.

As of the fourth quarter last year, LG posted 10 straight quarters of losses. Last year the mobile business lost 700 billion won, or around $650 million.

"It has been a time of introspection on whether we fully conveyed to consumers the best we can offer," Hwang said. "Consumers don't know our strengths. We have lost trust. We are trying to rebuild that trust and sales will automatically follow. It is too early to unveil all our efforts but there will be improvements going forward.

"We don't want to put in features that consumers won't use. We will focus on the A, B, C, and D," he added.

MWC 2018 Coverage

• MWC 2018: Sony's Xperia XZ2 smartphone adds 3D scanning capabilities
• MWC 2018: Bixby 2.0 coming in Galaxy Note 9, says Samsung mobile boss
• MWC 2018: ZTE pushing for 5G smartphone in 2018
• Google Android Go: Nokia, ZTE and Alcatel unveil first super-cheap smartphones
• MWC 2018: Ericsson CEO on 5G revenues
• Samsung Galaxy S9: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)
• MWC 2018: Telstra's 5G rollout plan for 2019
• Why MWC is all business now (TechRepublic)
• MWC 2018: Ericsson CEO on 5G revenues
• Samsung to sell Galaxy S9 super slow-mo image sensors
• MWC 2018: Telstra using AFL app for LTE-B launch
• At MWC, Samsung advances with DeX Pad
• MWC 2018: Ericsson and Ciena increasing Telstra network virtualisation
• MWC 2018: Galaxy S9 pricing, pre-order and launch dates for US carriers
• MWC 2018: Huawei focuses on connecting emerging markets
• MWC 2018: Huawei launches MateBook X Pro, MediaPad M5
• MWC 2018: Huawei unveils first 5G customer premises equipment
• MWC 2018: Intel and NTT DoCoMo partner for 2020 Tokyo Olympics
• MWC 2018: Telstra to live demo 2Gbps 4G
• Mobile device computing policy (Tech Pro Research)