LG promises two flagship smartphones for 2016

The G5 could be LG's best smartphone yet. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

The G5 could be LG’s best smartphone yet. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Despite losing money on smartphones during the third and fourth quarters of 2015, LG has promised to release two flagship handsets this year.

We know one will be the LG G5, which is expected to come with a more premium all-metal design, but the second remains a mystery.

LG actually shipped half a million more smartphones in Q4 2015 (59.7 million) than it did during Q4 2014, and yet it still suffered losses of $37 million last quarter — thanks mostly to huge investments in things like research and development and marketing.

But LG won’t cut back; the company is hoping that by introducing two flagships handsets in 2016, it can turn a profit on smartphones again. But what will those handsets be?

We have no doubt one of them will be the G5. The G series has been LG’s bread and butter for years, so it would be crazy to give up on that. Recent rumors have claimed the device will make its debut at Mobile World Congress next month, bringing huge improvements.

In addition to a more high-end design made out of metal, the device is expected to pack Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 processor, dual rear-facing cameras, and 4GB of RAM.

LG’s second flagship will likely be a second-generation V10. Introduced last October, the original V10 is LG’s first smartphone with a secondary display, and it has been greeted by glowing reviews that praise the functionality of that second screen.

This could mean that LG is ready to give up on the curved G Flex series. We’ve seen two of them so far, and while they’ve been decent devices, most consumers see the curve — which comes with a premium price tag — as an unnecessary gimmick.