LG G6 to go on sale in US this week

Americans take a selfie with an LG Electronics G6 smartphone in New York. / Courtesy of LG Electronics

By Kang Seung-woo

LG Electronics’ new flagship smartphone, the G6, will go on sale in the United States and Canada on Friday (local time), the company said Thursday.

LG, which has regrouped after setbacks with its high-end phones, unveiled the much-awaited smartphone in February, receiving plaudits from critics and fans.

It was locally rolled out March 10.

“LG’s G6 will be available to buyers from April 7 (local time) through 11 mobile network operators in North America, including the five major U.S. cellular carriers -- Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular,” LG said, adding it will go on sale in Canada the same day. Release dates for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia have not been announced.

To boost G6 sales in the U.S., the tech giant’s biggest market, LG has run tryout zones at 25,000 shops across the country, receiving preorders from March 17. LG is giving away a Google smart speaker for early bird customers.

After the North American launch, the G6 will hit shelves in Europe, Asia and Central and South America over the next few weeks as nearly 200 carriers and operators worldwide make the G6 available to their customers.

LG said it is fully prepared for the G6’s global rollout and has strengthened its supply system to meet any demand surge.

The G6 features a 5.7-inch FullVision display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and minimal bezels. It has drawn rave reviews, winning an unprecedented 36 awards from industry publications at February’s Mobile World Congress in Spain.

“The initial reaction and feedback to the G6 has exceeded our expectations by far,” Cho Ju-no, president of LG’s mobile communications division, said. “We had a lot of ground to make up with the G series and what we learned from consumers in the past year has truly been inspiring and illuminating.”

Galaxy S8 preorders kick off

Preorders for Samsung Electronics’ latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, are available from Friday through April 17 across the nation.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S8 last week in New York.

The high-end phone comes in two sizes: the standard S8 with a 5.8-inch display and a larger Galaxy S8 Plus with a 6.2-inch screen. They cost 935,000 won ($824) and 990,000 won, respectively. The two models have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

Samsung also will release the S8 Plus that features 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It costs 1.15 million won.

Samsung is scheduled to roll out the device on April 21, but preorder customers can activate their new smartphones from April 18.

Last year, the world’s largest smartphone maker had to kill off the Galaxy Note 7 two months after its launch, following reports of some devices catching fire while charging.

To recover from the fallout and boost sales, Samsung will provide free goods worth 400,000 won to those who preorder.

The new Samsung phone features a bezel-less, edge-to-edge curved display with a unique 18.5:9 aspect ratio. Its homegrown virtual assistant Bixby also is installed, while the device offers three types of biometric authentication -- fingerprint, iris and facial recognition.