Now more than ever you don't have to pay top dollar to get a decent smartphone, and LG has crowded the mid-range market even further with the launch of three new phones that sport quad-lens cameras on the rear, as well as some respectable specs inside.
The LG K Series comprises the K61, the K51S, and the K41S, and aside from having four lenses making up their main cameras, they all match on battery capacity (4,000 mAh), a rear fingerprint sensor, DTS:X 3D Surround Sound for connected headphones, and a 6.5-inch display (though the aspect ratio on the LG K61 is slightly wider).
It's the LG K61 that leads the way in terms of camera quality, with a 48 MP standard + 8 MP super wide + 2 MP macro + 5 MP depth sensor setup. The LG K51S has a 32 MP main lens while the LG K41S has a 13 MP main lens, and they both have 5 MP super wide + 2 MP macro + 2 MP depth sensor lenses.
Mobile camera specs are about more than just megapixels and camera lens counts of course, but it's clear that the K61 is the most premium of the three new handsets. LG says "capturing the magic of the moment has never been so easy or fun" as it will be with these three handsets, which suggests a bunch of effects and camera tricks will be available in the camera software.
The phones will be sold with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB or 128 GB of storage (K61), 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage (K51S) and 3 GB RAM and 32 GB of storage (K41S). Chipsets are yet to be confirmed but the K61 and the K51S will run on a faster 2.3 GHz octa-core CPU compared with a 2 GHz octa-core CPU in the K41S.
Those two higher-end handsets, the K61 and the K51S, both have a punch hole notch for the selfie camera, while the K41S goes for a teardrop notch. All three handsets have pleasingly thin bezels around the screen, and look tastefully designed. There's no 5G here though, one of the nods to keeping the prices of the phones down.
With flagship phone prices remaining high, it's a busy time at the more affordable end of the market, giving those who'd rather pay less plenty of options to pick from – you can even pick up a mid-range phone with a stylus now, courtesy of Motorola.
We know this trio of LG phones will be priced somewhere below the top tier of smartphones, but we don't know exactly where yet, as LG has yet to confirm how much the K61, the K51S and the K41S are going to cost. They're scheduled to go on sale in the second quarter of 2020.
Source: LG
I wish they still had the buttons on the back, like the G series from a few years back, so much better than on the side.