LG G5: 5.3" always-on QHD display, 16MP primary camera, secondary 8MP rear camera for ultra-wide angle shots, and an expansion slot for plug-in modules
LG's modular G5 is its most daring flagship phone ever — LG is in a tricky position: starting with the G2, it's …
Context & Ripple Effects
LG's flagship line had been an incremental camera-and-display story: the G4 raised the screen to QuadHD with an f1.8 lens and leather back, but the formula was converging with every rival. The G5 breaks from that by making the hardware itself open-ended — an always-on QHD panel, a second 8MP rear sensor for ultra-wide shots, and a bottom expansion slot for plug-in modules.
First-order effects
- Accessory makers gain a formal attachment point: the expansion slot turns LG's phone into a host for third-party and first-party hardware rather than a sealed device.
- Buyers choosing between the G5 and sealed competitors like Samsung's Galaxy S7 now face a real trade-off — expandability versus polish — before reviews settle the question.
Second-order effects
- When Android Police's G5 review judged the modules and wide-angle camera more gimmick than useful while calling the phone inferior to the Galaxy S7 in almost every way, LG's whole accessory bet — including the VR headset, 360 camera and Friends lineup shipped in May — faced an attach-rate problem no spec sheet could fix.
- The failure of the modular pitch pressures LG to compete on conventional grounds again: display shape, bezels, and camera quality rather than swappable hardware.
Third-order effects
- A year later the pattern resolved: the G6 dropped the expansion slot entirely for a metal unibody, thin bezels and an 18:9 display, absorbing the useful ideas (dual rear cameras, always-on screen) into a sealed design — evidence that flagship modularity, tried at the top tier, could not survive contact with reviewers or the market.
The trend: Flagship phones are consolidating around sealed, design-led hardware where once-experimental ideas like modularity are abandoned within a single generation unless reviewers validate them.