Unlike some smartphone manufacturers, LG offers both premium and budget-friendly handsets in order to reach a broader audience.
LG leverages its experience manufacturing LCD and OLED TV panels when designing its smartphone screens, resulting in some of the more impressive displays in the business.
What to consider when choosing an LG phone
LG makes the task of comparing its phones relatively straightforward by dividing them up based on their price and capabilities. Handsets in the G series such as the LG G7 ThinQ are the flagship models designed to compete with the Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy Ss of the mobile world; V series handsets like the LG V30+ are aimed at photography aficionados and pack high-quality cameras; and K series handsets attempt to strike a balance between price and performance that doesn't look or feel cheap.
Unfortunately, even with this handy categorisation, pinning down which handset best meets your needs isn't always easy. Modern smartphones tout more fancy features than a snake-oil salesman, and determining which ones are actually worthwhile can take a lot of time and research. To save you that hassle, we've picked out the key considerations you'll want to keep in mind when shopping for a new LG smartphone:
Most of LG's smartphones take a frugal approach to internal storage, featuring just 16GB or 32GB. Thankfully, all recent LG handsets include a microSD card slot for expanding that storage by as much as 2TB, so if you like to carry around your entire music collection on your phone or take hundreds of photos for sharing online, you'll want to factor the cost of a large microSD card into your buying decision.
Smartphone screens tend to range from 5 to 6 inches these days, with larger screens lending themselves well to watching videos and playing games on the go while smaller displays allow for more compact handsets better suited to one-handed use. LG addresses both these needs with its smartphones, offering handsets as large as 6 inches and as slight as 5.3 inches.
Setting a budget is a critical step when buying a new smartphone. Most premium handsets such as LG's G7 ThinQ and V30+ go for around $1,000 outright, though most people choose to pay that cost off in instalments by signing up for a contract plan with a mobile provider instead. If you'd rather not spend a cool $1K on such a fragile piece of technology, LG's range of budget handsets occupy the more affordable $200 to $400 price bracket.
In a time when more and more smartphone manufacturers are turning their backs on the familiar 3.5mm headphone jack, LG continues to support the popular audio port in all its recent smartphones. If you're not keen on Bluetooth headphones or carrying around a USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor, this could be reason enough to pick LG over the competition.
It's not just the expensive technology used in smartphones that makes them valuable – the information we store on them is often equally precious. Providing tools to protect that information is of paramount important in any modern smartphone, and LG does this by integrating voice and facial recognition into handsets like the Q6 and V30+. These features help prevent other people from accessing your phone, even if it's lost or stolen.
The camera technology in LG's smartphones doesn't quite hit the lofty standards set by Huawei or Samsung, but it's still more than capable of taking high-quality photos and videos. Most recent handsets include at least a 13MP rear-facing camera, and newer models like the G7 ThinQ and V30+ sport dual-lens arrays with the ability to take wide-angle landscape shots.
As with most smartphones, the front-facing "selfie" camera on LG's handsets sees a significant dip in quality compared to the primary rear-facing camera. Most handsets top out at 5MP, though more recent models do feature a 120-degree wide-angle lens for when you want to fit more people into your selfie snaps.
One feature that seldom crops up when comparing smartphones is modem speed. A smartphone's modem is responsible for sending and receiving data across a mobile network and as such can have significant impact on how fast your mobile Internet connection is. This is why two phones on the same network can experience drastically different Internet speeds even when they're sitting right next to each other.
If fast mobile Internet is an absolute must for you, you'll want to pay close attention to the specs of LG's smartphones. While handsets like the G7 ThinQ support zippy Category 15 network speeds, older and cheaper models like the K8 are only rated at Category 4. For a deeper explanation of what these categories mean, take a look at our Network Category speeds guide.
LG only got into the wireless charging game with its V30, G6 and G7 ThinQ handsets, all of which support the common Qi charging standard. If the premium price tag of those handsets is a little too much for you, some of LG's cheaper phones at least support quick charging so you don't have to chain yourself to a power point for hours each day.
Decent battery life is far from a guarantee in modern smartphones, and LG's handsets are sadly among those that tend to struggle in surviving a full day of use. Battery capacity in most models errs on the lower side of the average, meaning heavy phone users may need to recharge their handset one or more times a day.
Modern smartphones often boast of their sharper screens and faster processors, but just as important these days is the inclusion of adequate protection against natural hazards like dust and water. This protection is rated using the IP system, which indicates how resilient a particular phone is when subject to certain environmental conditions.
Unfortunately, only LG's highest-end smartphones have so far offered official water- and dust-resistance, sporting a rating of IP68 which promises complete protection against dust and the ability to survive without suffering lasting damage in more than a metre of water. Pick up a cheaper LG handset, however, and a minor spill could spell the end of the device.
Performance is always a tough quality to nail down since not only can it differ drastically from handset to handset but it can also be quite subjective. Some people might view good performance as a snappy user interface, while others may expect fluid 3D gaming or fast switching between apps.
Whatever performance means to you, we recommend that you seek out and read reviews for LG's smartphones to determine whether a particular handset will deliver the performance you're after. Specifically, you'll want to look to reviews that incorporate benchmark testing – such as our own – since this contextualises performance in relation to other handsets on the market. This way, it's easier to get a sense of where a particular handset fits in the grand pantheon of modern smartphones.
Looking for an LG phone on a plan?
Unlike most smartphone brands, LG sells almost all of its handsets on an exclusively outright basis here in Australia. You will still find a few handsets available on contract through local providers, and you can compare those in the table below:
Matt Sayer is a technology writer and editorial engineer for Finder, combining industry expertise with data-driven solutions to help people make better decisions. His extensive portfolio spans investigate reporting on the roll-out of 5G, statistical analysis on the legacy of E3 and guides for popular products like mobile phones and smart speakers. Matt has a Bachelor of Computer Science from RMIT University and is passionate about finding ways that technology can better our lives.
LG's latest G-series smartphone sets itself apart with a 3D depth-sensing camera and a screen that doubles as a speaker.
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