Ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 — set to take place in Barcelona, Spain February 22 to 25 — LG Electronics Inc. today unveiled the LG G5. In an effort to take on — and differentiate itself from — the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7, LG has introduced some dramatic changes to its 2016 flagship device.

For the G5, LG has switched to an all-metal body and incorporated a semi-modular design that includes a removable battery, digital camera module, hi-fi player, and more — all swappable via an expansion module at the bottom of the phone (see infographic below).

LG only unveiled two of the modules today: CAM Plus, a camera module attached via the expansion slot that offers auto focus, exposure lock, physical buttons for power, shutter, record, and zoom, and also adds a battery with a 1,200mAh capacity. The second module LG showed today was the Hi-Fi Plus with B&O Play, a Hi-Fi audio player developed in conjunction with Bang & Olufsen that supports 32-bit, 384KHz high-definition audio playback. It can be used as a module attached to the LG G5 or as a stand-alone Hi-Fi digital audio chip (DAC) connected to any PC or smartphone.

Under the hood, the G5 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 CPU with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage (expandable to 2TB via microSD), a removable 2,800mAh battery, and runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow.  

The 5.3-inch, quad HD (2560 x 1440) display features an always-on component that displays the time, battery status and notifications without the need to wake the phone. According to LG, the feature only requires 0.8 percent of the phone’s battery power per hour, making it extremely efficient.

Camera-wise, the G5 sports two rear shooters, one a standard 16MP unit and the other an 8MP 135-degree, wide-angle unit. The two rear cameras can be operated separately or simultaneously to create special effects. The front camera is an 8MP unit.

LG also unveiled a number of gadgets that can be connected to and controlled by the G5, dubbed “LG Friends” (see infographic below). The “Friends” devices are all controlled via a G5-specific app, called the “Friends Manager” and include the 360 CAM (for shooting 360-degree video), the 360 VR (a light-weight, foldable virtual reality headset with a dedicated screen), the Rolling Bot (a ball camera with laser and infrared that can be controlled from anywhere in the world), Tone Platinum (a Harman Kardon Platinum grade Bluetooth headset), a Smart Controller for drones and other smart devices, and H3 by B&O Play earphones.

LG did not reveal pricing or release dates for the G5 and its accessories, but we expect to see at least the handset hit the market in April.

Images via LG