LG rumored to unveil 5G-enabled V50 alongside G8 next month

Next month’s Mobile World Congress is shaping up to be an interesting one for LG, with the South Korean company now rumored to be unveiling two handsets at the show: the LG G8 ThinQ and a second, higher-end, 5G-enabled device, possibly the LG V50 ThinQ 5G.

This latter rumor comes from Korea’s ETNews, which says the LG V50 will feature a 6-inch display, 7nm Snapdragon 855 chipset with vapor-chamber cooling, and 4,000mAh battery. More importantly, says ETNews, it’ll have a 5G modem.

If the V50 does land at MWC, it’ll be arriving sooner than expected. The V40 and its five cameras only launched last fall, and we weren’t expecting an update to LG’s highest-end line until the same time this year. But, speeding up the launch cadence would make sense if LG wants to keep up with Samsung, which has promised a 5G device in the first half of 2019. And LG said it will push “5G products and smartphones” this year in its latest earnings report.

A quick turnaround, though, could end up disappointing some. If LG is only changing the processor and modem for the V50, the end result could be an iterative device like the V35.

ETNews says the V50 will be available in select North American and European markets from March. This matches what we’ve heard from carrier Sprint, which said last August it was working with LG to release a 5G handset some time in the first half of this year. We’ll know more at LG’s MWC event, February 24th.