LG G5 to feature modular design, source says

LG is pushing forward with the LG G5 (as Samsung is pushing forward with the Galaxy S7 variants), and a new source gives LG faithful something to contemplate.

According to CNET Korea, LG looks to bring a modular design to the LG G5, with the bottom portion of the smartphone becoming removable. The result of this modular design is that LG may choose to eliminate the removable back cover from this year’s G5 as opposed to the back cover of the LG G4 from 2015. There will also be a magic slot that’s said to support plug-ins for various accessories with the LG G5 — one of which could be a future LG VR headset of some kind, or even an external keyboard or other accessory (possibly an LG Tone Pro headset).

The idea of a modular smartphone is one that Google has been working on with Project Ara, but the search engine giant has yet to do anything with except tout it as a futuristic, cool idea that may or may not happen. LG would bring it forward in the LG G5 if the rumors are correct, which means that LG users would have something to definitely stand out from the crowd.

At the end of the day, though, I’m pretty sure this idea isn’t going to sound cool with a lot of modern smartphone users. If one part of the LG G5 is removable, why not make all of it removable? Why not make the entire part modular, allowing all parts of the LG G5 to be swapped out — with new parts to be inserted?

LG didn’t dramatically differ the G4 from the G3, with the result being disappointing sales in both the US and Korea (LG’s home country), so the Korean manufacturer is desperately searching for a way to distinguish its device from that of Samsung, its fellow Korean competitor. The G4 featured removable back covers, one being a leather back cover with double stitching that came in many colors (green, blue, red, yellow, black, and brown, among others). The G4 had the best rear-facing camera LG’s ever put on a smartphone, but its f/1.8 camera aperture wasn’t enough to beat Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 edge devices. LG’s G4 did beat out Apple’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, however, with the Korean manufacturer’s device coming in the top 5 in terms of photography and videography with mobile photography expert DxOMark Mobile.

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Deidre Richardson

Deidre Richardson (dual B.A., History and Music, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) stumbled upon tech a little later in life than expected. After picking up her first smartphone (the Galaxy S3), the rest is history. She currently writes for SamMobile, the largest Samsung fan site worldwide, as well as smartwatch site smartwatch.me.