The LG G5 may be launched during the first quarter of 2016, with a metal unibody design. Korea’s ETNews has cited industry sources, and claims that the upcoming flagship device will feature a “full metal case” in order to compete with Samsung and Apple’s flagship phones. LG was one of the last major manufacturers to use plastic on its flagship devices, although it did offer the LG G4 with a leather rear panel giving the phone a more premium finish. In August 2015, LG announced that it is launching a variant of the G4, with a metallic back. The new variant came with a ‘fine hammer-crafted metal body’.
If LG does adopt a metal unibody design for the G5, there is a good chance that it would not come with a removeable battery, or a even a microSD card slot. These two features were big selling points for the LG G4, and was one of the few advantages that the phone had over the Samsung Galaxy S6. ETNews also says that the LG G5 may be launched during Q1 2016, possibly during MWC 2016. This is around the same time when Samsung may launch the Galaxy S7. LG is already using metal on the V10, but it is only on the frame, and not for the whole body. The steel and silicone construction of the phone made it extremely resistant to shocks, without compromising on the looks of the device.
Know Your Mobile has collected all the rumours about the specifications of the LG G5. According to it, the phone may come with a 5.7-inch IPS display with a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. If this is true, the LG G5 will be one of the first to feature a 4K resolution display, like the one found on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium. The G5 is also rumoured to come with either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, or a MediaTek Helio X20 processor. The device may also come with an iris scanner instead of a fingerprint scanner, that is now common among flagship devices.