By Yoon Sung-won
LG Electronics will launch its new LG G3 smartphone on May 28, a sequel to the company's hit LG G2 released in August 2013.
With the release of new phone less than a week away, questions have surfaced about whether the gadget will be successful enough to empower the company to surpass its Chinese rivals in the competition for third-place in the global market.
The LG G2, a 5.2-inch phablet smartphone, earned favorable reviews. In November, the U.S. magazine Consumer Reports listed the handset as one of the top 10 electronic gadgets of 2013, praising its ergonomic design and long-lasting battery.
There has been much attention paid as to whether the latest handset will prove to be successful, inheriting its predecessor's reputation and raising the company's status as the third-largest smartphone manufacturer after Samsung Electronics and Apple, and outplaying China's Huawei, Lenovo and ZTE.
According to Strategy Analytics, a U.S.-based market researcher, Huawei holds a 5.1 percent share of the global smartphone market, closely followed by LG Electronics with 4.8 percent, Lenovo with 4.6 percent and ZTE with 4.1 percent as of May.
As the G3 is a premium model, LG Electronics has applied advanced technologies including a 5.5-inch QHD-class display for the first time in the industry, showing off the company's strength in the display panel sector.
Industry watchers anticipate that the G3 is to be equipped with Google's Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and a 13-megapixel camera with an optical image stabilizing function.
It is also likely to have Qualcomm's 2.3-gigahertz Snap Dragon 801 quad-core mobile application processor, the same chipset used for Samsung Electronics' latest smartphone, the Galaxy S5, which is expected to be one of the rival models for the G3.
LG Electronics not yet confirmed the exact specifications of the G3.
Early consumer sentiment is also favorable toward the new gadget.
According to a survey by the U.S. IT media Phonearena released this week, more than four out of 10 respondents said they would choose LG G3 from among others set to hit stores. Samsung's Galaxy S5 Prime was in third-place with 25.3 percent.
Meanwhile, LG Uplus started to take reservations for the LG G3, Thursday, earlier than the other two local mobile carriers SK Telecom and KT. LG Electronics is a sister company to the nation's third-largest mobile carrier.
"We saw customer sentiment toward us shift after we released the G2," LG Electronics CFO and CEO Jung Do-hyun said in an earnings briefing session on April 29, showing his anticipation of an improvement in smartphone sales.
LG Electronics will launch its new LG G3 smartphone on May 28, a sequel to the company's hit LG G2 released in August 2013.
With the release of new phone less than a week away, questions have surfaced about whether the gadget will be successful enough to empower the company to surpass its Chinese rivals in the competition for third-place in the global market.
The LG G2, a 5.2-inch phablet smartphone, earned favorable reviews. In November, the U.S. magazine Consumer Reports listed the handset as one of the top 10 electronic gadgets of 2013, praising its ergonomic design and long-lasting battery.
There has been much attention paid as to whether the latest handset will prove to be successful, inheriting its predecessor's reputation and raising the company's status as the third-largest smartphone manufacturer after Samsung Electronics and Apple, and outplaying China's Huawei, Lenovo and ZTE.
According to Strategy Analytics, a U.S.-based market researcher, Huawei holds a 5.1 percent share of the global smartphone market, closely followed by LG Electronics with 4.8 percent, Lenovo with 4.6 percent and ZTE with 4.1 percent as of May.
As the G3 is a premium model, LG Electronics has applied advanced technologies including a 5.5-inch QHD-class display for the first time in the industry, showing off the company's strength in the display panel sector.
Industry watchers anticipate that the G3 is to be equipped with Google's Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and a 13-megapixel camera with an optical image stabilizing function.
It is also likely to have Qualcomm's 2.3-gigahertz Snap Dragon 801 quad-core mobile application processor, the same chipset used for Samsung Electronics' latest smartphone, the Galaxy S5, which is expected to be one of the rival models for the G3.
LG Electronics not yet confirmed the exact specifications of the G3.
Early consumer sentiment is also favorable toward the new gadget.
According to a survey by the U.S. IT media Phonearena released this week, more than four out of 10 respondents said they would choose LG G3 from among others set to hit stores. Samsung's Galaxy S5 Prime was in third-place with 25.3 percent.
Meanwhile, LG Uplus started to take reservations for the LG G3, Thursday, earlier than the other two local mobile carriers SK Telecom and KT. LG Electronics is a sister company to the nation's third-largest mobile carrier.
"We saw customer sentiment toward us shift after we released the G2," LG Electronics CFO and CEO Jung Do-hyun said in an earnings briefing session on April 29, showing his anticipation of an improvement in smartphone sales.
