LG Electroncs confirmed the G7 release date.

LG Electronics finally confirmed that LG will release its next flagship smartphone G 7 on May 2nd. LG G7 will have artificial intelligence (AI) set to be a central feature.

LG G7

LG also announced that the new device will continue with LG’s G series branding. G7 will also wear the ThinQ badge first introduced on the LG V30S ThinQ which made its debut at Mobile World Congress during February.

While few details of the new flagship were released, LG said G7 ThinQ builds on the voice and camera AI technology of the previous device, as well as “enhancing the ability to interact with other devices”.

Other mooted features include a software-enabled “notch” display to echo the design of devices such as iPhone X – which can be switched off to give a full edge-to-edge display screen – and dual camera. It is likely to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest processor – Snapdragon 845 – with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage.

LG’s smartphone plans have been in the spotlight since early this year, after it was reported the company was looking to move away from a twice-yearly flagship release (G series and V series) to instead debut smartphones when it had something new to offer.

But an incremental update to V30 made at Mobile World Congress in February was largely met with indifference, despite the addition of ThinQ AI technology.

With rivals including Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi (among others) having announced new devices in recent months, LG needs something to add some sparkle back into its portfolio.

LG G7 ThinQ will be unveiled in New York on 2 May, followed by an event in LG’s home market (Seoul, South Korea) on 3 May.