LG announces G7 ThinQ with 6.1" QHD+ LCD display and notch, dual 16MP rear cameras, 3,000mAh battery, Snapdragon 845, Android Oreo, Assistant button, and more
Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge — After months of leaks, LG's new G7 ThinQ phone is officially here.
Context & Ripple Effects
LG's G-series has spent three generations redefining its screen: the G4's 5.5-inch QuadHD panel gave way to the G6's 18:9 FullVision display, which LG itself had teased through an unusually detailed leak cycle weeks before launch. The G7 ThinQ continues that cadence — again preceded by months of leaks — but the headline change is directional: LG has adopted the industry's notch on a 6.1-inch QHD+ LCD, and added a dedicated Assistant button under the new ThinQ branding.
The spec sheet also shows trade-offs the prior coverage makes visible: the battery shrinks to 3,000mAh from the G6's 3,300mAh even as the screen grows, and the processor jumps two generations from the G6's Snapdragon 821 to the 845.
First-order effects
- LG's flagship now competes on AI integration rather than display firsts — the Assistant button and ThinQ branding put Google Assistant one press away, a shift from the G6 era when the 18:9 FullVision screen was the selling point.
- Buyers comparing directly against the G6 face a larger screen and much faster Snapdragon 845, but a 300mAh-smaller battery — a regression LG will have to defend at launch.
Second-order effects
- Qualcomm adds another top-tier design win for the Snapdragon 845, reinforcing it as the default flagship silicon that phones like LG's are measured against.
- LG's repeated pre-launch leak exposure — the G6's specs surfaced in near-final form days ahead of its announcement, and the G7 leaked for months — keeps eroding the company's control over its own reveal, pressuring it to differentiate on software and AI features that don't leak as easily as chassis specs.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, LG's role in the Android flagship market is settling into fast-follower: the company that pioneered 18:9 on the G6 now adopts notches and assistant buttons after the broader market does, competing instead on camera hardware (dual 16MP) and price positioning within a converged design language.
The trend: Android flagships are converging on notched displays and dedicated AI buttons, with LG shifting from display-format pioneer to fast-follower competing on cameras and Assistant integration.