Now you can build your own smartphone thanks to LG’s latest release
AUSSIES will soon be able to build their own smartphones when LG fires the latest shot in a war to stand out in the cut-throat smartphone market.
AUSTRALIANS will be able to build their own smartphones from next month when LG fires the latest salvo in a war to stand out in the crowded and cut-throat smartphone market.
LG’s unusual, “modular” smartphone will arrive at the same time as a rival model from HTC, however, and both are targeting the one million Australians who failed to upgrade their smartphones last year.
LG’s $1099 phone, the G5, features a metal body that can be pulled apart and upgraded with dedicated camera buttons, a new battery, or an insert delivering a Bang & Olufsen audio upgrade.
LG Australia mobile communications general manager Gino Casha said the build-it-yourself approach was designed to “bring fun back to mobile phones” and give consumers a new reason to upgrade their handsets.
“In this very stagnant mobile industry where there are a lot of copycat smartphones, we didn’t really want to be one of those manufacturers,” Mr Casha said.
“Mobile phones tend to be full metal, glass, they all tend to do very similar things, but the modules will be able to take smartphones to the next level.”
The camera controls, audio upgrade, and extra battery “modules” for the G5 phone would be launched in May, ranging from $129 to $229, Mr Casha said, along with demonstrations available in some Telstra and Optus stores to give consumers a better idea of how to instantly upgrade the smartphone.
But the LG G5 will be launched at the same time as HTC’s potential comeback phone, the HTC 10, that features a metal body, advanced speakers, and what it claims is the best smartphone camera in the market, with a score of 88 out of 100 from camera test group DXOMark.
“It puts us at the top of the leaderboard,” HTC Australia product marketing director Thomas Dexmier said.
The new smartphone innovations are part of a larger battle to stand out in a crowded Google Android phone market, Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said, and also to convince Australians to stop using older phones and buy new models.
“It is getting harder to get consumers to upgrade their smartphones,” Mr Fadaghi said.
“Manufacturers will need to give customers more reasons to upgrade in 2016 than the end of mobile service contract, or larger screen size.”
Australians bought one million fewer smartphones in 2015 compared to the year before, according to Telsyte, with 7.9 million handsets sold.
This number is forecast to jump to 8.4 million this year, however, thanks in part to strong competition from Android phone makers.
