The LG G6 was revealed yesterday at the Mobile World Congress. It seems to be a considerable upgrade over last year's G5 flagship, abandoning the previous generation's adventurous but unimpressive modular approach. How does the G6 compare to the iPhone 7 Plus?
Size
The iPhone 7 Plus is about 6 percent taller and 7 percent wider than the G6, but the G6 is the thicker of the two.
Weight
...it follows that the larger iPhone is also heavier, by about 13 percent.
Build
The LG G6 has glass front and back panels, with a narrow curved aluminum frame connecting the two. The 7 Plus has the characteristic iPhone aluminum unibody we've come to know well.
Colors
If color choices are important to you, the iPhone has more options. However, the jet black edition is only available in the 128 or 256 GB storage sizes.
There are three color variants for the G6, but US markets will only see the black and platinum (silver) models.
Water resistance
Both phones can withstand splashes and brief dips in shallow water, but the G6's IP68 rating indicates that it's the slightly more water resistant option.
Display size
If something seems strange about the G6's display, you're not wrong: LG opted for an unusual 18:9 aspect ratio, which is slightly taller and thinner than what we normally see. Many mobile displays, especially phones, have 16:9 proportions.
The G6's display also edges much closer to the edges of the device, packing in a slightly larger screen on a smaller phone.
Display resolution
The G6 has a QHD+ resolution display with Dolby Vision and HDR 10, standards which designate a certain level of quality.
To be fair, we haven't had the opportunity to put the two devices side by side, and we do have a high estimation of the iPhone 7 Plus' display.
Display type
Both use IPS over AMOLED displays – which confirms that the G6 won't be compatible with the Google Daydream headset.
Pressure-sensitive display
Only the iPhone includes Apple's so-called 3D Touch technology, which differentiates between light and hard taps to the screen. iOS 10 incorporates 3D Touch technology into many navigational shortcuts.
Camera megapixels
The G6's rear camera has one more megapixel than the iPhone, but its front (selfie) camera isn't as sharp.
Dual lens camera
Both phones have dual-lens rear cameras, but they use them to different effect.
The G6 combines a standard lens and a wide angle (125°) lens: Shoot with the latter to fit a larger scene into the frame. The iPhone 7 Plus pairs a standard lens with a telephoto lens, which enables 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom. (It also enables Apple's Portrait Mode, which blurs the backgrounds of subjects.)
Camera aperture (rear)
The standard-lens rear cameras have matching (large) f/1.8 apertures, which could mean competitive low-light shooting.
Optical image stabilization
Both cameras have optical image stabilization to minimize blur.
Battery
The G6's battery is larger, but there are many factors that go into overall battery life. (Stay tuned: We'll perform our standard battery test on the G6 in our full-length review.)
Fast charging
The G6 offers Quick Charge 3.0 fast charging for fueling up in a hurry.
Processor
The G6 is equipped with a worthy-but-last-generation Snapdragon 821. Clock speeds for the G6 have not been released yet, so we're not sure how its configuration performs next to Apple's A10 fusion chip in the iPhone.
RAM
Androids like the G6 nearly always beat the amount of memory in iPhones, but to be fair, the two systems use RAM differently.
Storage
The G6 is only available in one 32 GB size, but the iPhone 7 Plus has three storage levels.
microSD
However, the G6 has a microSD slot for expansion up to 2 TB. No such luck on the iPhone.
Headphone jack
With the G6, there's no need to choose between abandoning your favorite wired headphones or relying on a dongle. Unlike the iPhone, the G6 hasn't axed the headphone jack.
Fingerprint sensor
Both phones have a fingerprint sensor. The G6's is on the back and doubles as a power button. On the iPhone, it is incorporated into the home button.
Home button
Like many Androids, the G6 has onscreen home, back and app buttons. The iPhone 7 Plus has a solid-state, off-screen home button with click-imitating haptic feedback.
NFC
Both phones have NFC, the requisite technology for mobile payments. The iPhone 7 Plus supports Apple Pay, while the G6 will presumably support Android Pay (some of its software details have yet to be revealed).
Virtual assistant
The G6 includes Google Assistant, which debuted on the Google Pixel but will likely come to many more Androids this year. The iPhone is Siri-equipped.
Operating system
The G6 has LG's version of Android 7.0 Nougat, while the iPhone runs iOS 10.
Release
The newly announced G6 will hit South Korean shelves on March 10. LG has not confirmed specifics for release elsewhere, but the G6 is expected in Europe and North America in April. The iPhone, on the other hand, is about six months old.
Starting price (full retail)
LG has yet to confirm the US price for the G6. If its 899,800 won asking price in Korea is any indication, than it could be as much as US$800. That's considerably higher than last year's G5, but right along the same lines as the $769 iPhone 7 Plus. (Though you'll always want to remain skeptical about using direct currency translations to guess prices.)
We will post a full-length review of the LG G6 in due course. In the mean time, check out New Atlas' hands-on impressions, or revisit the iPhone 7 Plus review.