LG Boldly Launches Its New V20 Flagship Smartphone Just Hours Before Apple’s New iPhone Reveal

While the entire tech world had their eyes on Apple and their iPhone 7 reveal event, LG was busy launching its new flagship phone. The LG V20 was revealed on Tuesday evening, just hours before Apple’s announcement event — and it was a move CNET calls either “gutsy or delusional.” But while the V20 might have been overshadowed by all of the attention on Cupertino’s flagship, it’s still a solid offering — with some cool features geared toward audiophiles.

The V20 is, notably, the first phone to ship running Android 7.0 Nougat. And much like its V10 predecessor, LG’s new flagship is equipped with a dual-camera system and a small secondary screen at the top of the phone, according to The Verge. Unlike LG’s G5, however, the V20 is not modular — contrary to rumors that suggested it might be. Though, in the long run, that might have been a good idea, since the G5 did not sell well.

The LG V20 has a typical Snapdragon 820 processor and 4-gigabytes of RAM. Its dual-lens camera setup pairs an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor with a 16-megapixel standard sensor. And it’s all encased in a sleek aluminum frame, according to Engadget.The phone is not water resistant, however, due to its removable battery cover. But that does mean you can swap out the battery.

Additionally, the V20 not only retains the headphone jack that other phone manufacturers are phasing out — but it’s also packed with some premium audio features. The V20 ships with a 32-bit hi-fi quad digital-to-audio converter — which LG says is a first for smartphones. It also has three mics, and built-in support for lossless audio formats such as FLAC, The Verge reported.

For audiophiles, it might be the holy grail of mobile listening experiences. But the average user can still expect a significant upgrade in the phone’s audio quality. To drive the point home that the V20 is for audiophiles, LG is packaging the phone with a pair of B&0 Play H3 headphones for a limited time. Retailing at $149.99, these premium headphones are sure to be a serious upgrade than the standard freebies most devices ship with.

LG is leaving pricing up to retailers, so the V20’s final price won’t be known for at least a couple of weeks. It should be available by the end of the year from all major carriers, as well as Best Buy and B&H, the company said.