With its smartphone division struggling to turn a profit, LG has decided to revamp its flagship smartphone strategy this year. Leaks have already confirmed that the company will not be releasing a new flagship smartphone at MWC this year. Instead, it will be launching an upgraded version of the LG V30 with some new AI features.

As for its flagship, a leak pointed to LG’s CEO telling the team to rework on the handset just a month before MWC after being disappointed with the final product. Now, a new VentureBeat report has revealed details about LG’s new flagship handset codenamed “Judy.” The handset will debut with a brand new design and feature a 6.1-inch FullVision display.

While LG used its own P-OLED display on its previous flagship, the LG V30, it is going to use MLCD+ panel on its upcoming flagship handset. This new LCD panel features an RGBW matrix that will allow it to reach brightness levels of up to 800-nits. It will also consume 35 percent less power than a regular IPS LCD panel. It will be interesting to see how this MLCD+ panel stacks up against Samsung’s AMOLED displays which have been ruling the smartphone industry in terms of quality. And LG’s decision to not use its own P-OLED displays on its upcoming flagship also reflects the company’s confidence on its own OLED panels.

Other specs of Judy include a Snapdragon 845 chipset, 64GB storage, 4GB RAM, dual 16MP rear shooters with f/1.6 aperture, IP68 certification, stereo speakers dubbed “boombox”, HDR10 imaging support, wireless charging, and some camera AI related features. LG could also possibly release a ‘Plus’ variant of Judy in certain markets with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage.

LG will not be branding Judy as G7 so it is unclear what the handset’s final name will be.

Our Take

While the handset does sound impressive on paper, LG has no plans of launching Judy before June this year. By that time, Samsung and Huawei’s flagship handsets would have been on the market for over a couple of months which does not bode well for LG’s flagship. Nonetheless, if LG is able to churn out a really impressive flagship smartphone this time around, it should still be able to sell it in brisk numbers.